
Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




Copyright, 1900, by George W. Bertron. 



BRITISH CELEBRITIES OF THE CENTURY 



GRANDEST CENTURY 

IN 

THE WORLD'S HISTORY 

CONTAINING A 

FULL AND GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE MARVELOUS ACHIEVE- 
MENTS OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS 

INCLUDING 

GREAT BATTLES AND CONQUESTS; THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS; 

WONDERFUL GROWTH AND PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES; 

FAMOUS EXPLORATIONS, DISCOVERIES, ETC., ETC. 

SUBLIME TRIUMPHS OF ELECTRICITY 

REMARKABLE INVENTIONS; PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, ART 
AND AGRICULTURE; CELEBRATED MEN AND WOMEN 

OF THE CENTURY, Etc., ETC. • • ' 

By Henry Davenport Northrop 

Author of "Gem Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge," " Queen of Republics," Etc., Etc. 



Profusely Embellished with a large number of 
Phototype and Wood Engravings 



NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copiei Reoeivsd 

APR 8 1903 

cIaSS p>^ »». No. 
1 ^ ^ 



ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1900, BY J. R. J0NH8 
IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D. C. 



n 



.^&fe 











PREFACE. 




vD, f 5 volume contains a full and glowing account of the world's -wonder- 
*i| il progress in the Nineteenth Century. It vividly depicts the grand 

c-imax of all the centuries, and describes the great events that have 
niide the history of mankind sublime and glorious. It is a marvellous record 
of Brillirait Achievements, such as the TriumpJis of Electricity ; Great Explor- 
ations and Discoveries ; the Application of Steam to Navigation ; the growth of 
the World's Navies, and the amazing advances in Education, Religion, Iviter- 
ature. Art and Science. 

Such a Century Plant, unfolding its wonderful blossoms, has not been seen 
before in the history of man. The last Hundred Years have witnessed the 
Growth of the United States from five and a half million people to more than 
seventy million; amazing strides in Agriculture ; the development of Immense 
Natural Resources, and the victories of Invention, Heroism and Statesmanship. 

The swift march of events in other parts of the globe includes the down« 
fall of Napoleon I. and Napoleon III.; the rapid changing of the map of Europe, 
the conflict between Russia and the Allied Powers of England and France ; 
the expulsion of Spain from the Western Continent ; and the bloody war in 
South Africa. 

The last third of the Century witnessed a spirited struggle among the 
European Powers for supremacy in Africa, which a few years before was an 
unknown Continent, This masterly work contains a vivid account of the- 
desperate conflict between the . British and the Boers, states the Causes of the 
War, and furnishes graphic descriptions of Battles, Sieges, and Heroic Achieve- 
ments, which tested the courage, endurance and patriotism of the sturdy com- 
batants. It is a peerless volume, unrolling a grand panorama of historic 
events and the world's progress in every field of human activity. 

Part I.— Great Events of American History in the Nineteenth Century. 
From the purchase of Louisiana in 1803 down to the War with Spain and the 
FHipino Insurgents, all the events are depicted that make the history of that 

ui 



t^ PREFACE. 

Country in the last hundred years read like a miracle. Ho nation has made 
greater progress in all that pertains to the highest civilization than our owtn, 
and the record of it is in this attractive volume. 

Part II. — European and other Countries in the Nineteenth Century. The 
downfall of the French Empire, the growth of Great Britain, the seething 
forces breaking 'out into tragedies of war and the overthrow of Thrones and 
Empires, are described by a masterly hand. This part of the work affords i> 
i^omprehensive survey of the nations of the earth. 

Part III. — Famous Explorations and Discoveries of the Nineteenth Century. 
The mysteries of the Dark Continent have been brought to light and the 
frigid Polar World has been made to reveal its icy secrets. The reader tra- 
verses the jungles and plains of Africa and the frozen realms of -the North with 
daring explorers, whose adventures, exploits and achievements have given them 
a world-wide fame. 

Part IV. — Great Wars and 3attles of the Nineteenth Century. From the 
plains of Austerlitz and Waterloo down to the famous victories of Manila, San- 
tiago and the hard-fought Battles in South Africa, the reader views the 
bloody drama of war and hears the booming of gnus that pronounce the 
fall of Emperors and Nations. The century closes amid the smoke and din 
of conflict ; we may well indulge the hope that all this is the terrible birth- 
pang of better things. 

Part V. — Marvellous Inventions and Scientific Discoveries of the Nineteenth 
Century. This is a whole world by itself, opening to the reader's wondering 
view the marvels of Mechanical Invention, man's triumphs over the forces of 
nature, making them his willing servants, and the myriad discoveries that 
are almost too wonderful to be believed. 

Part VI. — Religion, Literature and Art in the Nineteenth Century. These 
subjects are fully treated and are of great interest throughout. 

Part VII. — Famous Men and Women of the Nineteenth Century. This 
Part comprises all the great celebrities whose achievements give lustre to re- 
cent decades, and whose names stand high on the scroll of immortal fame. 




CONTENTS. 



Moa 



PART I. 

GREAT EVENTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 

i*URCHASE OF LOUISIANA— NaPOLEON THREATENING GrEAT BRITAIN — PIRATICAL STATES 

OF Barbary— Jefferson Re-elected— Treason of Aaron Burr — Blow to Ameri- 
can Commerce— Trouble with Great Britain— Arbitrary Decree of Napoleon 
— Importation of Slaves Forbidden— Robert Fulton's First Steamboat — Thp 
"Clermont" Makes a Voyage from New York to Albany— ^Sailing Vessels 
Superceded by Steam — Fulton the First Great Inventor of the Century . 17 

CHAPTER II. 

OUR SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

James Madison in the White House— England's Big Fleet— Gen. Hull Fortifies 
Detroit — Base Surrender of the Detroit Garrison — Sharp Battle at Queens- 
town ON the Canada Border — Brilliant Exploits of Our Navy — Invasion op 
Canada — Important Events Connected with the War — Some op the Indian 
Tribes Take up Arms — The Peace Commission of 1813 — Great American Vic- 
tory ON Lake Champlain— The British Repulsed in Many Engagements— Orig- 
inal Text of the ''Star Spangled Banner" — Hartford Convention — ^War 
Ended — Indiana Brought into the Union 2d 

CHAPTER III. 

ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE MORMONS. 

Joseph Smith, Founder of the Sect — The Book of Mormon— Prominent Mormons 
Swear Falsely — The Book a Historical Romance — Smith Tarred and Feath^ 
ERED — Removal to Nauvoo— Smith Shot Dead by a Mob — Mormon Temple Db. 
stroyed by Fire— Mormons Move Again and Found Salt Lake City — Outrages 
BY Armed Mormons— Mountain Meadows Massacre —Federal Troops Sent to 
Utah— John D. Lee Convicted and Executed for the Mountain Valle\ Mas- 
sacre—Death OF Brigham Young— Polygamy Suppressed by the Government . 4> 

CHAPTER IV. 

WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 

"*EOPLE FROM CONNECTICUT SETTLE IN TeXAS — MoSES AuSTIN OBTAINS A GrANT FROW 

the Spanish Government — Large Immigration Pours into Texas— Austin Ar- 
rested and Imprisoned— Santa Anna in Power — His Troops Driven Out of 
Texas— Davy Crockett— Mexican Army Routed — Texas a Republic in 1S37 — 
Movement in Congress for the Annexation of Texas — Proposition Resisted 
by Mexico — Bloody Battles Between the Mexican and American Armies — 
Achievements of General Taylor — General Scott's Expedition— Our Arms 

Evervvvherk Victorious— Rftitrn of Peace on the 4th of July, 1848 51 

v 



vi CONTENTa 

CHAPTER V. 

THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 

/ 

A.GITATION UPON THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY — ThE MISSOURI COMPROMISE — STRUGGLE IN 

Kansas in 1854 — Democratic Party Divided— Election of Abraham Lincoln 
TO the Presidency— The South Asserts State Sovereignty— Appalling State 
of Affairs— Many Southern States Secede from the Union— Outbreak op 
THE War— Major Anderson Attacked at Fort Sumter— Confederate Plan to 
Destroy Commerce— First Great Battle — Slaves Declared "Contraband of 
W/'ar" — Federal Expeditions to Recapture Southern Harbors— Confederates 
Seek Recognition Abroad— War of Vast Magnitude— General Grant in the 
West — Terrible Battles and Many Federal Defeats — Fight Between the 
Merrimac and the Cumberland—'* Stonewall Jackson " — General McClellan's 
Advance— The Capital Threatened • 

CHAPTER VI. 

END OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 

Hard Fighting in Tennessee— Capture of Fort Pulaski — Slavery Question ai 
THE Front— Lincoln Threatens to Free the Slaves— Battles of Chancel- 
LORSViLLE— Grant's Victory at Vicksburg — Federals Victorious in Great Bat- 
tle AT Gettysburg — Riots in New York— Generals Thomas and Bragg— Gen- 
eral LONGSTREET WoUNDED— GrANT MADE CoMMANDER-IN-ChIEF— TeRRIBLE FIGHT- 
ING IN THE Wilderness— General Sherman's Great March to the Sea — Lincoln 
Elected to a Second Term— Lee's Situation Desperate— End of the Great 
Struggle — Assassination of President Lincoln — Death of the Assassins . 

CHAPTER VII. 

FROM THE RESTORATION OF THE UNION TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 

Opening of the Union Pacific Railway — Our Government Insists upon Great 
Britain Allowing Damages for Captures by Confederate Cruisers— Court of 
Arbitration— Great Fire in Chicago — Loss Amounts to 1196,000,000— Discon- 
tent IN Cuba — Seizure of the Virginius and Execution of Her Crew— Demands 
OF Our Government upon Spain — Peace Commissioners Murdered by Modoc 
Indians — Assassins Followed and Shot or Hanged — Centennial Exhibition op 
1876 — Imposing Ceremonies at Its Opening — Garfield Inaugurated President- 
President Garfield Shot by an Assassin — General Arthur Becomes President 
— Discovery op Gold in Alaska— Prosperity in 1898 and Following Years . 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 

Cuba's Struggle for Freedom — Destruction of the Battleship Maine — Message to 
Congress from the President — Outbreak of War with Spain — Admiral Dewey's 
Great Victory at Manila — Young Heroes of the War — United States Army 
Landed in Cuba — Exploits of the " Rough Riders " — Battles of San Juan and 
El Caney — Admiral Cervera's Fleet Destroyed by American Squadron Under 
Command of Commodore Schley— United States Army Landed in Porto Rico- 
Capture OF the City of Manila — Peace Commissioners Appointed by the 
United States and Spain— Negotiations for Peace — Peace Treaty Signed by . 
THE Two Governments — Bloody Conflicts with the Insurgents in the Philip- 
pines—Great Naval Spectacle in New York Harbor — Sword for Admiral 
Dgwby — Magnificent Reception to Dewey on His Return 



CONTENTS. im 

PART II. 

EUROPEAN AND OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY, 

CHAPTER IX. 

GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 

p&eB 
"rench Defeated in Egypt — British Naval Victory at Copenhagen— William Pitt 

IN Power, 1804— Napoleon Determines to Invade England— Great Naval Vic- 
tory OF the English Fleet at Trafalgar— Napoleon's Brilliant Successes- 
Battles OF Austerlitz and Jena — The "Iron Duke" — Alliance Against Napo- 
leon — Ireland Independent— George IV. Comes to the Throne — O'Connell in 
Parliament— William IV. on the Throne— Victoria Inaugurated Queen in 1838 
— Anti-Ccrn-Law League— War Between Russia and Allied Armies of England 
AND France — Desperate Struggle in the Crimea — Franchise Extended in 
England— Public School System — Mutiny in India — Punishment of Traitors^ 
Struggle of the Irish for Home Rule — The Queen's Jubilee in 1897 127 

CHAPTER X. 

FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

Splendid Triumphs of Napoleon — His Arbitrary Power — Empire Practically In- 
cluding Half of Europe — Defeat of French Navy by Lord Nelson — Emperor 
Retires to Elba — Reappearance in France and Defeat at Waterloo— Charles 
X. ON THE Throne — Trouble in Algiers — Troops Driven from Paris — Eng- 
land's Bold Move— Death of Heir Apparent in 1842 — The King Abdicates — 
France a Republic— President Napoleon III. Afterward Becomes Emperor- 
Political Agitation and Troubles— French and English Alliance Against 
Russia— Fall of Sebastopol — France Sends an Expedition to Mexico— Maxi- 
milian Captured and Shot — Scheme to Annex Belgium — Outbreak of War with 
Prussia — French Armies Defeated and Downfall of Napoleon III. — Escape of 
Empress Eugenie from Paris — End of the War— Famous Dreyfus Trial. . . . 143 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 
Germany Agitated by Napoleon's Schemes at the Beginning op the Century- 
German Confederation— New Government Organized— Insurrection Suppressed 
— Austria and Prussia — War with Austria and Great German Victory — The 
Treaty of Prague — New Territory Incorporated— Union of German States- 
France Proclaims War Against Prussia — Battles of Gravelotte and Sedan- 
Empire OF Prussia Under William I. — Laws for the Working Classes — Prussia 
and the Papacy — National Army — Death of Emperor William I. — Death of 
Emperor Frederick — William II. Comes to the Throne — Prince Bismarck • . 16? 

CHAPTER XII. 
GREAT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 
Emperor Paul Murdered in 1801— Russian Loss in the Battle of Austerlitz— Coa- 
lition with France — War with Persia — Powerful Alliance — Cabinet Officer 
Charged with Treason— Russia Victorious over Persia— Russia Signs the 
Treaty of London in 1827— Polish Insurrection in 183 i— War against Eng- 
land AND France in 185-?— Hi oopv Battles in the Crimea— Emancipation np 



na CONTENTS. 

THE Serfs in i86i — Russia Assists Slavonic Christians against the Turks- 
Dismemberment OF Bulgaria — Attempts on the Life of the Emperor— Czar 
Alexander Crowned in 1S83 — Emperor of Germany Visits the Czar in 1888 — 
Peace Conference at The Hague in 1899 Called by the Czar of Russia. . . 173 

CHAPTER XIII. 

i^AflONS OF NORTHERN EUROPE— DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 

Denmark's Wise Ruler— Ascendency of Napoleon— Danish Fleet Surrenders to 
THE British — Norway Ceded to Sweden — Monarchy in Danger — Danish Posses- 
sions Defined — Popular Discontent — Conflict with Prussia — Danish Victory 
Followed by Peace with Prussia — Demands made upon Denmark — Heroic 
Courage of the Danes — Sweden in the Nineteenth Century — Norway At- 
tacked BY GusTAVus — Finland Ceded to RfjssiA— Sweden and Norway United. 18J 

CHAPTER XIV. 

NATIONS OF SOUTHERN EUROPE— ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 

Revolution and Conspiracies in Italy— Massacre in Milan — Mazzini's Attempt to 
Establish a Republic in Rome— Revolution a Failure — Garibaldi and His 
Volunteers— Rome Emancipated by the Liberator — United Italy a Great 
Continental Power — Greece in the Nineteenth Century— War for Independ- 
ence IN 1821 — Turks Defeated by the Greeks— Civil War — Turkish Fleet An- 

MIHILATED IN 1827 — PRESIDENT ASSASSINATED liv 183I — ItALY UnDER PROTECTION 

OF Three Great Powers— War Between Greece and Turkey in 1897 — Turkey 
in THE Nineteenth Century — Conflicts with the Greeks — Crete and Syria — 
Turke\ Bankrupt — Massacre of Christians— Demands of the United States 
upon Turkey — Spain in the Nineteenth Century — Revolution in 1820 — Royal 
Marriages— Uprising of the Carlists — Spain a Republic — Spain again a Mon- 
archy—War with the United States in 1898 JW 

CHAPTER XV. 
CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 

Upper and Lower Canada — Internal Dissension in the Early Part of the Century 
— Canadian Rebellion — Defective System of Government — Invasion of Canada 
BY the Fenians— Confederation of 1867— Dominion of Canada — Purchase op 
Territory — Vast Wealth of Mines in British Columbia and Elsewhere— Mexico 
IN THE Nineteenth Century — Popular Discontent — Regency Established in 
1822 — President Overthrown — Disorder and Violence — Succession of Revolu- 
tions—The French in Mexico— Execution of Maximilian — South America in 
the Nineteenth Century — History of Peru— History of Chili— United States 
OF Colombia — British Guiana — Bolivia and Argentine Republic 214 

CHAPTER XVI. 

ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE] NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

China and Japan— Privileges Granted by Chtna to British East India Company — 
Famous Opium War — China's Disregard of Treaties— Great Rebellion— Cold 
Blooded Massacre of Europeans — War Between China and Japan— Great 
Battle of Yalu— -Japan in the Nineteenth Century — The Yankees of the 
!3ast — Admission of Foreign Vessels to Japanese Ports — Radical Changes in 
the Government— Feudal System Destroyed— Adopting New Ideas — Republics 
IN South Africa — President Kruger and the Transvaal~War Between the 
British anu the Boers . . . c , , . , 23? 



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27 ti 



CONTENTS. iX 

PART III. 

FAMOUS EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES OF THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

CHAPTER XVII. 
VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 

PAQB 

Captain Johw Ross— Doctor Rae's Discoveries — Story of Sir John Franklin — Ex- 
pedition Sent for His Relief— Death of Franklin and His Party — Discovery 
of Northwest Passage — Many Expeditions Sent to the Polar World — Doctor 
Kanb and Lieutenant DeLong in the North — Captain Nare's Expedition- 
Voyage ^OF Lieutenant Greely — Doctor Nanson in Greenland — Expedition 
BY Lieutenant Peary of the United States Navy — Futile Attempt to Reach 
the Pole in a Balloon by Andree 24'.' 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 

Brave Old Missionary — His Start for Zanzibar — Plunges into Wild and Inhospi- 
table Regions — Picturesque African Scenery — An Unbounded Forest — Remark- 
able Travels by Stanley — Adventure with an Elephant — In Danger of a 
Massacre — A Frightened Negro — Great Freshet in the River — Arrival at 
Bagamoyo 265 

CHAPTER XIX. 

STANLEY'S GREAT JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 

How Stanley Found Livingstone — Determines to Explore Africa — First Stage op 
His Journey — Many Adventures — Hostile Natives — Invitation from a King — 
Fantastic Parade — Big War-Boat — Famous Tipo-tipo — The Terrible Dwarfs- 
Passing the Rapids — Mutiny in Camp— Deserted by the Guides— Stanley's Ex- 
pedition IN Terrible Straits— His Successful Journey Across Africa — Return 
to England and the United States — Public Honors for the Great Explorer 
— Feted in England and America — Remarkable Success of One of the Greatest 
Expeditions on Record 27t> 

CHAPTER XX. 

TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF VAMBERY IN CENTRAL ASIA. 

The Modern Capital of Persia — Shrines of Moslem Saints — Groves of Orange 
and Lemon Trees — Verdant Plains on Every Side — Caravan in Great Peril— 
The Route Lost — Warm Reception for Vambery — Travelling in a Fertile 
Country — Scarcity of Water — City of Bokhara — A Strange Traveller — Car- 
avan Shut Out of the City — Dazzling Eastern Splendor — The Emirs Parade 
— "Mother of Cities" — The Traveller's Means Exhausted — Welcome from a 
Prince 298 

PART IV. 

GREAT WARS AND BATTLES OE THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 

Extraordinary Military Genius — Immense Array of Forces for a Great Battle 
--Chain of Fortresses on the Belgian Frontier — Wellington in Command of 



1 CDNTENta 

THE Allfed Army^ — Blucher with 80,000 Men — Bluchkr Attacked and Defeated 
BY Napoleon — The Emperor Decides to Give Battle — Choosing Position for 
THE Great Struggle — Disposition op Troops on Each Side — Armies Face to 
Face — ^Terrific Cannonade — Disgraceful Panic — Heroic Defense— Charge on 
British Centre — The " Iron Duke " at the Front — Ney's Superb Bravery — 
Veterans Hurled Back — Magnificent Charge of the Old Guard — "Nine 
Deadly Hours" — Waterloo Compared with Gettysburg .«.....«».•• 310 

CHAPTER XXII. 

DECISIVE BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 

Striking Figure of Napoleon — French Host Crosses the Rhine — Guard Driven 
Back — Daring Strategy — An Impregnable Fortress — Setting a Trap— Match- 
less Marshal Murat — Napoleon s Strategy— Dashing Cavalry Charge — Rus- 
sians Hurled Back — A Bloody Struggle — Valor was in Vain — Fierce Battle 
OF Jena — Napoleon in the Ranks— Terrific Combat — Two Gallant Charges- 
Scene OF Carnage — Thousands of Bloody Swords— Napoleon at Jena — The 
Emperor Caring for the Wounded on the Field 328 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

BRILLIANT VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON 

Famous Battle of Lake Erie — Strong Array of English Ships— Brisk Firing — 
Hand to Hand Combat— Rousing Cheers— Perry Leaving His Ship and Cross« 
iNG TO Another in an Open Boat — British Vessels Trying to Escape — Heavy 
Casualties— Glory for the American Navy — Battle of New Orleans — Formid- 
able British Fleet — American Forces Commanded by "Old Hickory" — Bril- 
liant Fighting on Both Sides — British Valor and Fortitude — British Advance 
Slow and Wearisome — Americans Behind Cotton Bales — British Infantry 
Hurled Back— Fatal Errors — A Withering Fire — Desperate Assault by the 
British — Death of the British Commander and Victory for the Americans — 
Battle Fought Before News of Peace Reached the Combatants— Jackson the 
Hero of the Hour 352 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 

Three Days Fight that Turned the Tide of War— General Lee's Successes m 
the South— Bold Attempt to Invade the North — Two Gallant Commanders — 
General Meade's Plan of Battle— How the Fight Began — Death of the Gal- 
lant Reynolds— Thunder of Artillery— Mad Rush of Federals— Heavy Cav- 
alry Battle — Lee's Hopes Fatally Shattered — Brilliant Repulse of Pickett's 
Brigade — Crisis Battle of the Great Civil War — Lee and the Confederates 
IN Retreat — Union Successes all Along the Line 378 

CHAPTER XXV. 

BATTLE OF INKERMAN AND CAPTURE OF THE MALAKOFF. 

British Pluck and Courage — A Slow Siege — Great Russian Host — Daring Bravery 
OF the French Army — Russian Prince on the Field of Conflict— Russian Col- 
umn Shattered — Reserves Brought into Action — Fierce Fighting on Both 
Sides— Critical Moment of the Battle— Invincible Strength of the Allied 
Forces— Heavy Russian Losses — Awaiting the Final Attack— Outpost Taken 
i^ND Retaken — Fall of the Citadel— One of the Longest Sieges in History 
JCnded — Results of the Long-Continued Struggle 390 



CONTENTS. S 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE AT SEDAN. 

Three Armies on the Field— German Host of More Than a Million Men — 
Emperor William and Napoleon III. — Von Moltke's Trap for the Mouse — 
Women in the Fight — French Scattered — Fierce Assaults by the Germans — 
A Field of Slaughter — Grand Cavalry Charge — French Hurled Back — Brave 
Marshal McMahon Wounded — White Flag Goes Up — Furious Artillery Fire — 
Meeting of the Two Emperors— A Sealed Letter— William to Napoleon — The 
Frenchman's Reply — Loud Huzzas Greet the King — Terms of Surrender — 
Downfall of the French Empire 40S 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 

Colonel Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy — Admiral Dewey Sent to 
Asiatic Waters — American Fleet Sails from Hong Kong — Harbor of Manila 
THE Scene of the Great Naval Battle — Relative Strength of the Combat- 
ants — The Battle Opens at Daybreak — Terrible Fire of the American Guns — 
Deadly Aim of Skilled Artillerymen— Destruction of Admiral Montojo's 
Flagship— Great American Naval Victory — War in Cuba — Military Operations 
Around' Santiago — Rough Riders in Battle— Exploits of the Regulars— Brav- 
ery of the Volunteers — Spaniards Driven Back upon Santiago— Admiral Cer- 
vera Attempts to Escape from the Harbor of Santiago — His Vessels De- 
stroyed — Another Great American Victory 426 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 

Difficulties of Long Standing Between Engi-and and the South African Repub« 
Lie — War Threatened— Ultimatum of the Boers to Great Britain — Outbreak 
of Hostilities — Capture of 800 British and ii Guns — Repulse of General 
Buller at Colenso — Operations of Lord Methuen on the Western Border — 
Battle of Modder River — Lord Roberts in Command — General Cronje's Flight 
into the Orange Free State — Battles in Northern Natal — Long Siege of 
Ladysmith — British Suffer Losses at Many Points — Death of a British Gen- 
eral — General White, Defender of Ladysmith — General French, Commander 
of British Cavalry — Capture of General Cronje and His Force — British Army 
AT Bloemfontein — A Costly Struggle ■ 435 

PART V. 

MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES 
IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

TRIUMPHS OF ELECTRICITY. 

Professor Morse and the Electric Telegraph — Discouragements of the Inven ior 
— Morse's M/^chine and Alphabet — First Message Over the Wires — Submarine 
Cables — Laying the First Atlantic Cable — No Such Word as "Fail" — The 
Bell Telephone — The Phonograph — ^Wonderful Achievements of Edison — Ed'- 
son's Kinetoscope — Electric Light — Distribution of Current — Rifles Fired 
BY Electricity — Wireless Telegraphy — Invention of Marconi — How the Mes- 
sages ARE Sent — Hard Problems Solved — Automobiles and Automatic Vehicles 
— Motor on Wheels — Keeping Up Heat — Wonders of the Electrical World — 
Telegraphing 100,000 Words an Hour— Plants Grown by Electricity 449 



xii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

STEAM NAVIGATION AND GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 

PACB 

Early Attempts to Invent a Steamboat — Advent of Robert Fulton — Difficulties 
He Encountered — Ridiculed by the Incredulous — Failure of His First At- 
tempt — People Assembled on the Banks of the Hudson to see the Boat 
Start — Surprise at Fulton's Success — Loud Cheers by the Crowd — From New 
York to Albany and Back — People Along the River Terrified at the 
Strange Vessel — Floating Batteries — Ocean Steamers and Battleships — 
Largest Steamship— Our Early Navy— Grand " Old Ironsides '' — Admiral 
Dewey's Flagship— Famous Oregon— The Swift Columbia 473 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
ELIAS HOWE'S SEWING MACHINE. 

A Poor Inventor— How He Came to Invent the Sewing Machine — Hopeless Pov- 
erty for Many Years — Curious Needle and Shuttle — How Obstacles were Over- 
come — Public has no Faith in His Invention — Repulsed by Many to Whom He 
Applied for Assistance — Finds a Friend at Last — Tries His Fortune in Eng- 
land — Affliction in His Family — Death of His Courageous Wife — Manufac- 
tures Machines to Order — Success of the Invention Which Brings a Fortune 
— Gold Medal from the Paris Exposition in 1867 and the Cross of the Legion 
OF Honor — Colonel in the Union Army During the Civil War — Lavish with 
Money for the Benefit of His Soldiers — Howe's Rank Among the most Dis- 
tinguished Inventors 485 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
HOE'S LIGHTNING PRINTING PRESS. 

Invention that Revolutionized the World of Letters — History of the Hoe 
Family — Arrival of one in New York from England — Energetic Young Man 
— First Printing That was Done by Steam — Urgent Demand for Rapid News- 
paper Presses — Problem Long Baffled Solution — Solved at Length in a 
Single Night — Immense Fortune for the Inventor — London Times and Other 
Presses — Successful Rotary Printing 491 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 

Discovery of the Famous X-Rays — Wonderful Experiments and Results — Dis- 
covery OF Liquid Air — Coldest Substance Known — Its Practical Uses — Good- 
year's Process for Utilizing India Rubber — Discoveries in the Art of Heal- 
ing—Germs OF Disease — Finsen Light Cure — Pasteur's Discovery — A Remedy 
FOR Hydrophobia — Anti-Toxine — Skin and Bone Grafting — Discovery of Anes- 
thetics — Explorations at the Bottom of the Sea — Submarine Boats — Death- 
Dealing Machines of War — Powerful Explosives and Projectiles — Smokeless 
Powder — Nitro-Glycerine — Dumdum Bullet — Marvellous Searchlights— Tor- 
pedoes and Submarine Mines— Machine Guns — Invention of the Bicycle — Old 
Styles Compared with the New — Travelling in the Air — Inventions for 
Aerial Navigation 496 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

INVENTIONS APPLIED TO RAILWAYS AND CANALS, 
SlowI'Progress in Railroad Building — Vast Growth in the Last Half of thk 
Century — Immense Engines — Fastest Trains in the World — Electricity as a 



CONTENTS. xih 

PAGB 

Motive Power — ^Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern Railway — Longest Road 
IN the World — Marvellous Bridges — Projected Road from Cape Town to 
Cairo — Cecil Rhodes and His Great Scheme — Ninety Miles an Hour — Great 
Canals of the World — The Panama Route — Nicaragua Canal — Chicago Drain- 
age — Outlet to the Mississippi — The Keil Ship Canal — Dimensions and Cost. 51? 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 

Great Improvement in this Deparment of Labor — Chemistry Applied to Agricul- 
ture — Sir Humphry Davy and His Discoveries — Liebig and His Experiments — 
Chemical Elements of the Soil — Nourishment of the Plants — Farm Liter- 
ature — New Methods of Teaching Farming — Success of Experiment Stations 
— Growth of Agricultural Societies — Governments Become Interested — 
Thorough Education for the Farm — Great Number of Farmers Compared 
with Remainder of Population— Old Farm Implements Compared with the 
New— Great Improvement in Utensils — Agriculture in Europe — Machinery 
for Everything — Variety of Grasses — Famous Cattle and Sheep — Farmers a 
Ruling Power .... • 624 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

REVIEW OF THE WORLD'S SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IN THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
Few Great Inventions Prior to the Nineteenth Century — Catalogue of Inven- 
tions During the Last Hurdred Years — Spectrum Analysis — Use of Antisep- 
tics in Surgical Operations — Only Remarkable Invention of the Seventeenth 
Century that of the Telescope--Barometer and Thermometer — No Invention 
of the First Rank in the Sixteenth Century — Mariner's Compass — Measuring 
THE Velocity of Light — Nature of Meteors and Comets — Antiquity of Man — 
Theory of Organic Evolution — Embryology — Astronomy in the Nineteenth 
Century — Photography as an Aid to the Telescope— Phenomena of our Solar 
System — The Earth's Satellite— Eclipses of the Sun Remarkable Corona — 
Discovery of- a Vast Number of Asteroids — Amazing Growth of Human 
Knowledge in Every Direction 533^ 

PART VI. 

RELIGION, LITERATURE AND ART IN THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CHRISTIANITY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. 

Wonderful Progress in Industrial Science — French Infidels in the Beginning 
of the Century— Revival of Spiritual Religion— Great Missionary Zeal 
—Moravians and Their Remarkable Work— Scotch and English Churches 
and Missionary Societies — American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions — Vast Sums of Money Contributed to the Cause — What is Shown by 
the Figures ? — Necessity for Medical Missions — Missionary Zeal of the Papal 
Church — Wonderful Advance of Christianity During the Century — Church 
Statistics — Church Property — Humanity a Brotherhood — The Russian Em- 
peror's Peace Conference at the Hague — Formation of Permanent Board ok 
Arbitration — Settlement c:^ International Disputes without the Sword . . 638 



«iv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
THE CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 



tAVM 



Education as Affecting Women— Old-Fashioned Ideas of Woman and Her Sphere 
— Money Value of Women's Labor — Many Avenues of Activity Open to the 
Female Sex — The Woman of the Twentieth Century — A Flood of Books — 
Enormous Masses of Literature — Short-Lived Works — Admirable Histories — 
Many Writers of Great Repute — Sir Walter Scott and the Waverly Novels — 
Wholesome Humor of Thackeray — Wonderful Creations of Charles Dickens 
— George Eliot and Her Famous Works — Novelists and Essay Writers — 
Important Educational Events in the Nineteenth Century — Chautauqua Sys- 
tem OF Education — Agricultural Education — Instruction on the Farm . . . 544 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

A HUNDRED YEARS OF ART. 

Centres of Art in Europe — Great Facility for Art Study in Paris — Vast Im- 
provement and Growth in American Art — Pictorial Art and its Rapid De- 
velopment — Immense Number of Illustrated Books and Magazines — Old-Time 
Pictures — Rival Schools of Art in France — England's Renowned Paintings — 
Native Art Productions in the United States — South Kensington School 
—Royal Academy in London — Rising Talent in Scotland Encouraged— 
Schools at Munich and Antwerp — Great American Promise of Art .... 554 

PART VII. 

FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN OF THE CENTURY. 

CHAPTER XL. 

CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 

Hans Christian Andersen — Matthew Arnold — George Bancroft — George H. Bo- 
ker — Horatius Bonar — Emily Bronte— Elizabeth Barrett Browning — Robert 
Browning— William Cullen Bryant— Lord Byron — Will Carleton — Thomas 
Carlisle — Alice and Phcebe Cary— James Fenimore Cooper — Charles Dickens — 
Ralph Waldo Emerson — Eugene Field — Horace Greeley — Nathaniel Haw- 
thorne — J. G. Holland — Oliver Wendell Holmes — Tom Hood — Victor Hugo — 
Rudyard Kipling — H. W. Longfellow — ^J. R. Lowell — Lord Macaulay — Edgar 
Allen Poe — ^John G. Saxe — Sir Walter Scott — Harriet Beecher Stowe — 
Alfred Tennyson — W. M. Thackeray — Mark Twain— J. G. Whittier 558 

CHAPTER XLI. 

DISTINGUISHED ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 

Beecher — Blaine — Bright— Choate— Clay — Depew — Douglass— Everett — Garfield 
— Gibbons— Gladstone — Gough — Brady — Harrison — Lincoln— McKinley — Moody 
— Reed— Sherman — Spurgeon — Talmage— Victoria — Webster — Willard ..... 582 

CHAPTER XLII. 
VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 
Armour — Bartholdi — Bell — Booth — Carnegie — Cleveland — Dewey — Edison — Grant 

Jackson — Lee — Marconi — Melba — Patti — Wanamaker 596 

Appendix A— Latest Events in the History of the Nineteenth Century. . . 609 
Appendix B — Canada in the Nineteenth Century 623 




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Copyright, 1900, by George W. Bertron. 

DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS OF THE CENTURY 



PART I. 

Great Events of American History 

IN THE 

NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER I. 
The Louisiana Purchase. 



^ 




HE Revolution, whicli resulted in 
the independence of the United 
States, was ended by the sur- 
render of Lord Cornwallis and his army 
of 7,000 men at Yorktown, Va., on Oc- 
tober 19th, 1 78 1. The patriots who had 
won the great struggle then united their 
efforts in the formation of a new gov- 
ernment and a Constitution in line with 
the principles so boldly asserted in the 
Declaration of Independence. In 1787 
the new Constitution was signed by a 
convention of the States and was ratified 
during the following year. 

The new government was organized 
by the election of George Washington 
as President. As we glance back at 
that stormy period in our history his 
majestic figure stands out as the chief 
of the illustrious founders of our Re- 
public. After twice administering the 
affairs of the government he died De- 
cember 14th, 1799. His honored name, 
embalmed in the hearts of his country- 
men, is destined to be venerated so long 
as our nation endures. One of his distin- 
guished compatriots, Benjamin Frank- 
lin, whose important services form some 
of the brightest pages of our early his- 
tory, ended his illustrious career on 
April 17th, 1790. 
2 



The administration of John Adams, 
second President, closed on March 4th, 
1 80 1, and on the same date he was suc- 
ceeded by Thomas Jefferson, author of 
the "Immortal Declaration." Aaron 
Burr, regarded by many af» only a 
clever adventurer, was inducted into 
the office of Vice-President- The new 
administration made Wasbmgton the 
seat of government, the capitol having 
been removed to that city during the 
preceding year. 

The Purchase of Louisiana. 

The new chief magistrate was soon 
involved in a transaction of very great 
importance. Intelligence was received 
that Napoleon had extorted from Spain 
the cession of Louisiana, granting in 
compensation the succession of the 
Duke of Parma, a Spanish prince, to 
the grand-duchy of Tuscany. That 
court had, however, yielded with much 
reluctance, and only from being over- 
awed by the superior power of France. 
This intelligence excited great alarm 
in the American cabinet. 

The possession of this territory by 
Spain, a weak and sluggish power, had 
been sufficiently harassing; what then 
might be expected on its transference 

17 



li 



ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. 



to the most stirring and active nation 
in Europe ? Jefferson, knowing the 
French government to be embarrassed as 
to funds, conceived the hope, that, for 
a large sum, they might be induced to 
part with the territory; and, viewing 
, the object as of the deepest importance, 
^he was disposed not to be sparing in 
the amount. 

A Great Possession. 

Livingston, Pinckney, and Monroe 
were appointed a commission for carry- 
ing on this delicate negotiation. On 
arriving at Paris, they found their re- 
publican profession in bad odor with 
Napoleon, who, having determined to 
establish absolute power, regarded them 
with dislike as demagogues and anar- 
chists. They did not scruple to obviate 
this by declaring that they considered 
the present system the most desirable 
for France after her severe recent agi- 
tations. They found the acquisition of 
lyouisiana disapproved in the political 
circles, yet a favorite object with Na- 
poleon himself He looked to it as a 
great colonial possession, which might 
rival those of England ; as a new Egypt 
— a place of reward for meritorious 
officers, and of exile for those he sus- 
pected. 

Mr. King, the ambassador to Eng- 
land, endeavored to stir that court 
against it ; but though dissatisfaction 
was expressed, no right was there felt 
to interfere. An expedition of five to 
seven thousand men was prepared, and 
Bernadotte appointed to command it. 
As, however, Napoleon began to con- 
template hostile relations with Britain, 
./is mind opened to the American pro- 
posals. He could not hope to maintain 
this transatlantic possession against her 



superior navy ; while a large sum of 
money would be extremely convenient. 
King, indeed, was warned by Mr. Add- 
ington, that the British goverment 
would, in that event, take possession of 
the country. 

This was a new ground of alarm ; 
but he gave assurance, that they sought 
only to keep it from France, and would 
be quite satisfied with its acquisition by 
the United States. As hostilities be- 
came certain, Napoleon began seriously 
to negotiate on the subject. The treaty 
had been opened only with respect to 
New Orleans, and the territory west of 
the Mississippi ; but he intended that 
the eastern must also be included, 
which, indeed, by itself could be of lit- 
tle value to him. This proposal being 
unexpected, the envoys were impro- 
vided with any instructions ; yet, rightly 
appreciating the great advantage of 
possessing both banks, they readily con- 
sented — a conduct highly approved by 
the President. 

Worth Much More than the Cost. 

After a good deal of discussion, the 
price was fixed at sixty millions of 
francs, 1 2, 500,000 dollars, and the States 
were besides to pay twenty millions of 
francs, 4,000,000 dollars, of indemnity 
for injurious captures ; making in all 
16,500,000 dollars. The sum, though 
considerable, bore little proportion to 
the vast advantages which have since 
been reaped from the acquisition. 

Jefferson, although gratified by this 
arrangement, felt a good deal embar- 
rassed in laying it before Congress. No 
power to conclude such a treaty was con- 
veyed by the Constitution, and he was 
one who specially deprecated the gen- 
eral government going a step beyond its 



ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. 



19 



assigned functions. Congress, however, 
with the ex'^eption of a small minority, 
showed too much satisfaction at the 
event to be at all disposed to criticise its 
legality. Spain only, who still held 
possession of the country, and had cer- 
tainly been treated with very little cer- 
emony, made a strong remonstrance, 
that she had ceded it under the engage- 
ment of its never being alienated, and 
that the terms even had not been strictly 
fulfilled. She gave in afterwards a sol- 
emn protest to the same effect. 

The American government turned a 
deaf ear to such representations, and 
even prepared to assert the claim by 
arms. Napoleon, on hearing of this 
dispute, intimated, that unless the 
Spanish government yielded, he would 
join America in compulsory measures. 
This was enough for that court, who, 
on the loth of February, 1804, intima- 
ted, through her minister, Don Pedro 
Cevallos, that her opposition was with- 
drawn. 

American Prisoners at Tripoli. 

Public attention was now called to 
another subject, which had long caused 
uneasiness and irritation. The piratical 
states of Barbary, whose career had 
hitherto encountered no serious check, 
had been committing extensive depre- 
dations on American commerce. They 
had even intimated an intention not to 
discontinue them without a tribute, to 
which the nation was little inclined. 
As Tripoli had been particularly active. 
Commodore Preble, in 1803, was sent 
against it with a fleet of seven sail. 

On his arrival. Captain Bainbridge, 
with the frigate Philadelphia, was em- 
ployed to reconnoitre the harbor ; but 
proceeding too far, his vessel grounded. 



and fell into the hands of the enemy. 
He and his crew were made prisoners, 
and treated with the usual barbarity. 

The expedition was thus at a full 
stand, when Captain Eaton, consul at 
Tunis, intimated that the throne of 
Tripoli was disputed by Hamet Cara- 
malli, a brother of the bashaw who had 
found refuge and been well received in 
Egypt. He proposed and was permit- 
ted to join this prince, commanding the 
co-operation of the fleet. Eaton soon 
obtained Hamet's concurrence, and, 
early in 1805, was invested with the 
command of a body of troops which the 
latter had succeeded in raising. 

"My Head or Yours." 

He marched across the desert of Mar- 
morica, summoned the frontier fortress 
of Derne, and, though the commander 
made the defying reply, " My head or 
yours," overpowered him after a few 
hours of desperate fighting. On May 
8th, the reigning bashaw came up with 
a strong force, and attempted to recover 
the place, but was repulsed ; and on 
June loth he sustained another defeat. 
Immediately after, the American fleet 
was reinforced by the frigate Constitu- 
tion. While aflfairs thus wore a trium- 
phant aspect, and the capital was in 
alarm of immediate attack, Colonel 
Lear, the consul, thought it most pru- 
dent to listen to overtures from the 
enemy and conclude a peace. It com- 
prehended the delivery of the prisoners 
on both sides ; there being a balance of 
two hundred in favor of the bashaw, for 
which sixty thousand dollars were to be 
paid. All co-operation was to be with- 
drawn from Hamet, in whose favor it 
was only stipulated, that his wife and 
children should be released. 



20 



ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON 



That prince made loud complaints, 
under whicli Jefferson evidently felt 
considerable uneasiness. He urged, in- 
deed, that no pledge had been given for 
his restoration to power ; and that his 
force, though so far successful, was not 
adequate to that achievement. Con- 
certed movements may take place 
against a common enemy without any 
mutual guarantee of each other's ob- 
jects ; yet, where both have effectively 
co-operated, each seemingly may claim 
a share of the advantage ; and that of 
Hamet, on the present occasion, ap- 
peared exceedingly slender. 

Jefferson Re-elected. 

In the end of 1804, Jefferson's first 
term of office expired. His conduct 
having been altogether approved, and 
the democratic spirit being still pre- 
dominant, he was re-elected by one 
hundred and sixty-two votes out of one 
hundred and seventy-six. Burr, who 
had disgusted the ruling party by his 
conduct at the last election, was thrown 
out, and Clinton of New York, a Dem- 
ocrat so decided that he had even op- 
posed the formation of the Union, was 
elected in his place. 

Burr, disappointed in this quarter, 
sought compensation by standing as can- 
didate for governor of New York. He 
was supported by a large body of the 
Federals ; but Hamilton, a man of high 
and honorable mind, despising him as a 
reckless adventurer, opposed and de- 
feated his election. The disappointed 
candidate, taking advantage of some 
violent language said to have been used 
by his opponent, sent him a challenge. 
The parties met, and at the first fire 
Hamilton fell. No event ever excited 
a more general feeling of regret through- 



out the States, where, in the party most 
adverse to him, his high bearing, splen- 
did talents, and political consistency, 
commanded general respect. 

Burr, however, restlessly sought some 
means of attaining distinction and 
power. In September and October, 
1806, Jefferson learned that mysterious 
operations were proceeding along the 
Ohio ; boats preparing, stores of provis- 
ions collecting, and a number of suspi- 
cious characters in movement. A con- 
fidential agent sent to the spot warned 
the President that Burr was the prime 
mover ; and General Wilkinson, who 
commanded near New Orleans, intima- 
ted that propositions of a daring and 
dangerous import had been transmitted 
to him by that personage. 

Burr's Treasonable Plot. 

The ostensible pretext was, the set- 
tlement of a tract of country said to 
have been purchased on the Washita, a 
tributary of the Mississippi ; but the 
various preparations, the engagement 
for six months only, the provision of 
muskets and bayonets, pointed to some- 
thing altogether distinct. It was either 
the formation of the western territory 
into a separate government, or an ex- 
pedition against Mexico, sought to be 
justified by a boundary difference that 
had arisen with Spain, whose troops 
had actually crossed the Sabine. 

The former project, if entertained, 
was given up, no encouragement bein^ 
found in the disposition of the peo- 
ple ; and Burr's views were then con- 
fined to the seizure of New Orleans, and 
collecting there as large a force as pos- 
sible for his ulterior design. His par- 
tisans abstained from all violence, and 
made their designs known only by 




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ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. 



21 



mysterious conversations ; so that, on 
being appreliended and brought to trial 
in Kentucky, he obtained a verdict of 
acquittal. The goveruor of Ohio, how- 
ever, seized a quantity of boats and 
stores ; and strict watch was kept along 
the whole line. 

Burr was only able, on the 25th of 
December, to assemble at the mouth of 
the Cumberland river, from sixty to a 
hundred men, with whom he sailed 
down the Mississippi. General Wilkin- 
son had been instructed to settle the 
Spanish difference as soon as possible, 
and direct all his attention to securing 
New Orleans, and suppressing this en.- 
terprise. Burr, therefore, finding no 
support in the country, was unable to 
resist the force prepared against him ; 
his followers dispersed, and he him- 
self, endeavoring to escape, was arrest- 
ed on his way to Mobile. He was 
tried on a charge of treason ; but 
the chief justice was of opinion that, 
though Blanerhasset, his coadjutor, had 
openly announced the project of at- 
tempting the separation of the States, 
there was not sufficient proof that 
Burr himself contemplated more than 
the Mexican expedition, which amount- 
ed only to the levying of war against 
a power with whom the country was 
at peace. 

Believed to be Guilty. 

He was thus acquitted of the main 
charge ; yet Jefferson expressed himself 
as much dissatisfied with the sentence, 
declaring his conviction of Burr's guilt 
in every particular. The acquittal ap- 
peared to him to have been prompted 
by that ultra-federal spirit with which 
he always charged the Supreme Court. 
Burr went to Europe, and never again 



appeared on the political theatre of the 
States. 

About this time arose discussions 
that led to a long series of troubles. 
The contest which had arisen between 
France and England spread over the 
Continent, and was attended, on the 
part of Napoleon, with such signal tri- 
umphs, as rendered him virtually its 
master. But, while all Europe bent 
beneath his sway, he was goaded to 
madness by seeing Britain stand erect 
and defiant, while not a vessel could 
leave one of his own ports withou* 
almost a certainty of capture. 

A struggle now ensued, very different 
from that hitherto waged between Euro- 
pean kingdoms, when some exterior 
provinces or appendages- only w^^re dis 
puted. It was a question of empire oy 
one side and existence on the other ; 
and each party thought itself entitled 
to employ extreme means, and to pass 
the limits hitherto sanctioned by the 
practice and public law of Europe. 

Struggle Between Giants. 

Napoleon, viewing his mighty rival 
as resting solely upon commerce, imag. 
ined, that if he could exclude her mer- 
chandise entirely from the Continent, 
the root of her power would wither, 
and she would fall an easy victim. His 
adversary, on the other hand, conceived 
the hope, that by depriving the couu" 
tries under his sway of all the benefits 
of trade, a spirit of discontent would be 
roused that might prove fatal to his 
dominion. Both parties inflicted on 
themselves and on each other severe 
sufferings ; and the hopes of both proved 
finally abortive. Britain remained mis- 
tress of the seas, and Europe still lay at 
the feet of Napoleon. Yet each perse- 



22 



ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. 



vered, in the hope that the desired 
result was in silent operation, and that 
by a continuance of effective means it 
xnight at last arrive. 

America had at first derived extraor- 
Jinary advantages from this warlike 
attitude of Europe. The most active, 
and finally almost the only maritime 
neutral power, she had reaped a rich 
harvest by engaging in the commerce 
between the ports of the belligerent 
states, and kept an extensive shipping 
employed in this carrying trade. 

Blow at American Commerce. 

But a severe reverse was felt under 
these new measures, when her vessels 
could not appear in any of the seas of 
Europe without being liable to capture 
by one nation or the other. The proc- 
lamations of both wereequally rigorous ; 
but Britain possessed so much more 
means of carrying hers into execution, 
that they were the most severely felt. 

Another grievance was endured from 
the same quarter. The great extension 
of the American shipping interest of- 
fered ample employment to British sea- 
men, who, by entering this service, 
obtained higher wages and escaped the 
hardship of serving by impressment in 
ships of war. Britain therefore claimed 
and exercised the right of searching 
American vessels for these deserters, 
and, whenever grounds of suspicion ap- 
peared, of calling upon them for proofs 
of American origin. She contended 
that the desertion, if unchecked, would 
proceed on so vast a scale, that the navy, 
her grand means of defence, would be 
entirely crippled. 

The other party complained, that not 
only was the national flag thus violated, 
but American citizens were, under this 



pretext, seized and carried to distant 
ports, where they could not procure 
proofs of their origin, and those ac 
tually produced were not duly regarded. 
In a report to Congress, it is stated, 
that the number impressed since the 
beginning of the war had been four 
thousand two hundred and twenty- 
eight, of whom nine hundred and 
thirty-six had been discharged. It was 
alleged, that by far the greater propor- 
tion of these were native Americans, 
and that in six hundred and ninety- 
seven recent cases, only twenty-three 
were British and one hundred and five 
doubtful ; but to these statements it 
seems impossible not to demur. 

The first encroachment on the liberty 
of commerce was directed against the 
transportation of the produce of the 
French West Indies to the mother 
country. 

Trouble with Great Britain. 

It was maintained by Britain, that 
the Americans, having been formerly 
excluded from this employment, and 
admitted to it only in consequence of 
the war, could not complain of losing 
a branch which they had never eujoyed ; 
while they urged, that the war had 
conferred on Britain no new right to 
interpose. They entertained hopes of 
gaining their object in consequence of 
Mr. Fox's accession to power, in 1806. 
That statesman even told Monroe, 
then ambassador, that he had ordered^ 
the practice of impressment to be sus- 
pended, but was not prepared to yield 
up the right. 

Jefferson, encouraged by this intelli- 
gence, added Piuckney to the embassy, 
with the view of concluding a final 
arrangement. On his arrival, however, 



Administration of president jefferson. 



23 



Fox had been siezed with that illness 
which terminated in his death. The 
commission were received by Lord 
Grenville, to whom the subject was 
new, and who was pressed by the duties 
of other departments. Soon however, 
Lords Holland and Auckland, being 
named commissioners to carry on 
the negotiations, expressed the most 
conciliatory disposition, but stated, 
that as all the law officers were in favor 
of the right of impressment, it could 
not be formally conceded, but would be 
exercised with greatest caution. 

Agreed to Sign the Treaty. 

The ilmericans finding more was 
unattainable, while terms that appeared 
satisfactory could be secured on other 
subjects, at length agreed to sign the 
treaty. On its being transmitted to Jef- 
ferson, however, he at once determined 
on refusing to ratify it, without even 
the usual course of submitting it to the 
Senate. This, he conceived, when his 
own mind was completely made up, 
would have been an empty form. He, 
therefore, sent it back, with instructions 
that an attempt should be made to ob- 
tain at least a partial abolition, and also 
stating modifications which he consid- 
ered necessary in several of the other ar- 
ticles. He continued the same negoti- 
ators, and did everything in his power 
to soothe Monroe, hitherto his favorite 
diplomatist, who could but feel deeply 
wounded on this occasion. 

The estrangement caused by this step 
was aggravated by a tragical incident. 
Admiral Berkeley, then commanding 
British vessels on our coast, having 
learned that several men belonging to 
his squadron were on board the United 
States frigate Chesapeake, gave direc- I 



tions for their seizure by Captain 
Humphreys, of the Leopard. That 
officer came up to the American vessel 
soon after it had sailed from Hampton 
Roads, Virginia, and sent a boat's crew 
on board, asking permission to search 
for the British deserters ; Barron, the 
commander, replied, that he could not. 
allow his men to be mustered by any 
other than himself The boat returned, 
when a fire was opened from the Leop- 
ard, which the American, being totally 
unprepared for, was unable to return. 
In the course of twenty or thirty min- 
utes, he endeavored to fit his vessel for 
action, but not having succeeded, and 
three of his men being killed and 
eighteen wounded, he struck his flag. 

Offered to Give up his Ship. 

To a British officer, who came on 
board, he offered his vessel as a prize ; 
but the other disclaimed any such view, 
and delived a letter from Humphreys, 
dej^loring a loss which might have been 
avoided by amicable adjustment. He 
then took out four men, three of whom 
were alleged to be Americans, and de- 
parted. Berkeley had committed a gross 
error in authorizing such a proceeding 
against a government armed vessel, re- 
specting which the right of search had 
never been claimed. A loud and o-eneral 

o 

clamor, in which all parties joined, was 
raised throughout the country ; and 
Jefferson i.ssued a proclamation, exclud- 
ing British ships of war from all the 
waters of the United States. 

The English foreign secretary disa- 
vowed the action of Captain Humphreys 
offered reparation, and recalled Admiral 
Berkeley. England, however, would 
not give up the right of search, but 
instructed her officers to use no unnec- 



24 



ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. 



essary violence in enforcing it. The 
reparation promised was never made. 

Affairs in Europe, meantime, were 
assuming a still more serious aspect. 
Napoleon, after his victory at Jena, and 
entry into Berlin, which placed him in 
a most triumphant position on the con- 
tinent, became still more eager to crush 
,the only power that still defied him. 
In November, 1 806, he issued a decree, 
declaring the British isles in a state of 
blockade ; this was retalliated by an 
order in council on January 2, 1807, 
prohibiting the trade by neutrals from 
any port under his sway to another. 

Napoleon Enraged. 

On the nth of November, a fresh 
order declared, that all these countries 
were to be considered in a state of block- 
ade ; but some mitigations were after- 
wards admitted in regard to vessels 
willing to trade through the British 
ports, after paying a certain duty. 
These terms, however, were repelled by 
America, as a levying of tribute, and as 
altogether inconsistent with the inde- 
pendence of her flag. Enraged at this 
farther measure. Napoleon, on Decem- 
ber 17, 1807, issued at Milan, another 
decree, subjecting to confiscation every 
vessel which should have submitted to 
the conditions imposed by England. 

America was thus placed certainly in 
a hard situation, being unable to send 
out a vessel to sea, which was not liable 
to capture by either belligerent. She 
might have been fully justified in im- 
posing severe restrictions on the ship- 
ping and commerce of the ofiending 
parties ; but instead of this, Jefferson 
proposed and was supported by his 
part}' in carrying the measure of an em- 
bargo, to be laid for an indefinite period 



on all our vessels within the ports of 
America, by which they were prohib-v 
ited from departing for any foreign 
port. 

This step was marked by the singular 
fact that it was carried by the interior 
and agricultural States, against the most 
violent opposition from the northern 
and commercial ones, though the latter 
were almost the exclusive sufferers. 
They were told, indeed, that the object 
was to procure for them redress, and 
that their vessels, thus detained in port, 
would be saved from capture and con- 
fiscation. They thought, however, that 
they might have been consulted as to 
their own interests, and not have had a 
remedy imposed which was deemed by 
them ten times worse than the evil. 
The embargo was repealed in 1809, but 
commercial intercourse was forbidden 
with England and France. 

Slave Trade Abolished. 

Besides the acquisition of the great 
Louisiana territory, Mr. Jefferson's ad- 
ministration is memorable for the ex- 
tinction of the African slave trade, the 
importation of slaves having been for- 
bidden by law in 1808. The policy was 
then first introduced of purchasing from, 
the diminishing Indian tribes the lands 
which they claimed, and removing the 
Indians to special districts, or " reserva- 
tions," set apart for them. In this way 
large tracts of territory were gained from 
the scattered tribes both north and south 
of the Ohio. 

Thus it will be seen that within a 
period of twenty-five years from the 
close of the Revolutionary War our 
country was again agitated and dis- 
turbed, and there were ominous mutter- 
ings of war both England and with 



ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT JEFFERSON. 



25 



France, Mr. Jefferson, who was not 
without suspicion of sometimes favoring 
measures for political effect, resisted 
with all the powerful resources of his 
mind and with his commanding influ- 
ence the aggressions of Great Britain. 
From the succeeding pages the reader 
will learn that the statements already 
made are but preliminary to the second 



present. Never did a flag have more 
enthusiastic or ardent defenders than 
the Stars and Stripes. 

In the year 1807 a great change was 
made in the system of navigation by 
Robert Fulton, a native of Pennsylva- 
nia, who built and successfully naviga- 
ted the first steamboat. He named it 
the " Clermont," and made the voyage 




ROBERT FUIvTON'S 

conflict between the United States and 
Great Britain. A people who at such sac- 
rifice and cost of blood had gained their 
independence were not in a mood to tol- 
erate any violation of their lawful rights, 
it should be noted that in the early 
period of our history the true American 
spirit was born — born in conflict and 
the shock of battle — and has character- 
ized our nation from that time to the 



FiRvST STEAMBOAT. 

from New York to Albany, a distance 
of about one hundred and fifty miles, in 
thirty-six hours. From this time steam 
navigation rapidly superseded the old 
system of sailing vessels in the waters 
of the United States and exercised a 
powerful influence in the development 
of the wealth and prosperity of the 
country. Fulton's was the first great 
invention of the century. 



CHAPTER II. 

Our Second War with Great Britain. 




HE most important events in our 
country's history during the 
early part of the century were 
connected with what is commonly called 
the war of 1812. James Madison, hav- 
ing served one term as President, was 
inaugurated for a second term on the 
4th of March, 1813. War against Great 
Britain had been declared on the i8th 
of June before, and was then going on. 
At the time the war was declared, the 
prevailing idea was that England was to 
be brought to terms by the seizure of her 
neighboring provinces on the northern 
boundary of the United States- This 
was the only vital point at which it was 
expected that the United States could 
deal* telling blows. Uittle or nothing 
was expected from any contest on the 
ocean. The United States navy, of less 
than thirty frigates and sloops-of-war 
in commission, even with the new ad- 
ditions ordered, could not, it was sup- 
posed, cope with England's fleets of a 
thousand sail. All that was expected 
of these was to aid the gun-boats in 
coast defence, and in preventing a land 
invasion; while they might, also, in 
conjunction with privateers put in com- 
mission, cripple the enemy to some ex- 
tent by the destruction of their com- 
merce on the high seas. 
^ But the capture of the Canadas was 
looked upon as an easy prize. It was 
with this view that the army was organ- 
ized, and active preparations made. 
The chief command of all the forces 
was assigned to General Henry Dear- 
born, of Massachusetts. His position 
was to be on the eastern end of the line ; 
2(5 



the forces on the west end were assigned 
to General William Hull, then Gover- 
nor of Michigan ; those in the centre, 
or middle, of the line, were assigned to 
General Stephen Van Renssalaer. They 
were all to co-operate in their move- 
ments, with a view to Montreal a£, an 
ultimate objective point. 

Detroit Fortified. 

On this line of policy. General Hull 
had, early in July, 1812, concentrated 
an army of about 2,500 at Detroit. On 
the 1 2th of that month he crossed over 
and took possession of the village of 
Sandwich. Here he issued a very 
famous proclamation, and remained un- 
til the 8th of August, when upon hear- 
ing that Fort Mackinaw, on the river 
above Detroit, had been taken by the 
British and Indians, he recrossed the 
river and again took position at Detroit. 
A few days after this, General Brock, 
Governor of Upper Canada, who had 
called out a force, took his position at 
Maiden. On the 15th of August he 
erected batteries on the opposite side of 
the river, but in such position as to 
bring the town of Detroit within the 
range of his guns, and demanded of 
Hull a surrender of the place. 

Colonel McArthur and Colonel Lewis 
Cass had been sent off on detached ser^ 
vice, with a small force, on the river 
Raisin, a few days before, by Genera] 
Hull. Captain Bush, of the Ohio vol- 
unteers, had also, with a small force, 
been sent off on similar detached ser- 
vice. These detachments were recalled 
by (General Hull on the 15th. On the 



OUR SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN 



27 



i6tli General Brock commenced cross- 
ing the river with his forces, three miles 
below the position occupied by General 
Hull. 

When the British had advanced with- 
- in about five hundred yards of Hull's 
3. line, to their surprise they saw the dis- 
"play of a white flag. An officer rode 
' up to inquire the cause. It was a sig- 
' nal for a parley. A correspondence was 
opened between the commanding gen- 

- erals, which speedily terminated in a 

- capitulation on the part of Hull. The 
: fortress of Detroit, with the garrisons 

I and munitions of war, were surren- 
dered. The forces under Cass and Mc- 
Arthur, and other troops at the river 
Raisin, were included in the surrender. 
Captain Bush, however, not consider- 
ing himself bound by Hull's engage- 
ment, broke up his camp and retreated 
towards Ohio. 

A Base Surrender. 

The army surrendered by General 
Hull amounted to 2,500 men. General 
Brock's entire command consisted of 
about 700 British and Canadians, with 
600 Indians. This unaccountable con- 
duct of Hull filled the whole country 
with indignation. As soon as he was 
exchanged, he was brought to trial by 
court-martial. He was charged with 
treason, cowardice, and neglect of duty, 
but found guilty only of the two latter 
charges. He was sentenced to be shot, 
but his life was spared in consideration 
of gallant services in his younger days. 

By the surrender of Hull, the whole 
Northwestern frontier was exposed, not 
only to British invasion, but Indian 
depredations of the most savage char- 
acter. Great alarm spread throughout 
*U the neighboring States. Not less 



than ten thousand volunteers tendered 
their services to the government for 
defence. These were accepted and 
placed under command of General Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison, who had suc- 
ceeded Hull. 

Battle of Queenstown. 

After Hull's disaster. General Van 
Rensselaer, who had command, accord- 
ing to the original plan, of the centre of 
the invading line, made a movement 
over the Canada border. His forces 
consisted of regulars and militia, and 
were assembled at Lewistown, on the 
Niagara river. On the opposite side 
was Queenstown, a fortified British post. 
This was the first object of his attack. 
On the 13th of October, he sent a de- 
tachment of a thousand men over the 
river, who succeeded in landing under 
a heavy fire from the British. The 
troops were led to the assault of the 
fortress by Colonels Christie and Scott. 

They succeeded in capturing it. Gen- 
eral Brock came up with a reinforcement 
of six hundred men, and made a desper- 
ate effort to regain the fort, but was de- 
feated, and lost his life in the engage- 
ment. General Van Rensselaer was now 
at Queenstown, and returned to carry 
over reinforcements, but his troops re- 
fused to obey the order. Soon after, 
another British reinforcement was ral- 
lied, which recaptured the fort after a 
bloody engagement, in which the greater 
part of the thousand men who had first 
taken it were killed. General Van 
Rensselaer immediately resigned. 

The command of the army of the 
centre was then assigned to General 
Alexander Smyth. He was soon at the 
head of an army of four thousand five 
hundred men. On the 28th of No- 



28 



OUR SECOND WAR WITH GR^AT BRITAIN. 



vember he was ready to move. That 
was the day fixed for crossing the river. 
The troops were embarked, but the 
enemy appearing on the opposite side 
in considerable force and battle array, a 
council of war was held, which resulted 
in a recall of the troops in motion, and 
a postponement of the enterprise till the 
ist of December. On that day another 
council of war was held, at which the 
invasion from that quarter was indefi- 
nitely postponed. General Smyth in 
turn immediately resigned. So ended 
the third and last attempt at an inva- 
sion of Canada, during the fall and 
winter of 1812. 

Exploits of the Navy. 

While the military operations on land, 
from which so much had been expected, 
bore so gloomy an aspect, quite as much 
to the surprise as to the joy of the coun- 
try, the exploits of the gallant little 
navy, in its operations on sea, from 
which very little had been looked for 
or hoped for, were sending in the most 
cheering tidings. 

These may be thus stated : First. — 
On the 19th of August, 18 12, three days 
after the disastrous surrender of Detroit 
by General William Hull, of the army, 
a most brilliant victory was achieved off 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by Captain 
Isaac Hull, of the Unikted States frigate 
Constitution, and coming up with the 
British man-of-war Guerriere, under the 
command of Captain Dacres, at the time 
and place stated, an engagement imme- 
diately ensued. The fight was a des- 
perate one, and lasted for some time. 
But the result was the triumph of Hull 
and his gallant men. Dacres surren- 
dered ; but the Guerriere was too much 
disabled to be brought into port, and 



was blown up at sea. The loss of the 
Constitution in men was seven killed 
and seven wounded ; the loss of the 
Guerriere was fifty killed and sixty-four 
wounded ; among the latter was Cap- 
tain Dacres himself. 

About the same time. Captain Porter^j 
in command of the United States fri- 
gate Essex, met and captured the Brit- 
ish sloop-of-war Alert, after an action of 
only eight minutes. 

Second. On the iStli of October, 
Captain Jones, in command of the Uni- 
ted States sloop-of-war Wasp, of eigh- 
teen guns, met and captured the British 
sloop-of-war Frolic, of twenty-two guns, 
after a hard-fought battle of forty-five 
minutes, losing but eight men, while 
the loss of his enemy, in a vessel one- 
third his superior, was eighty men. 

Capture of a British Frigate. 

Third. On the 25th of October, Cap- 
tain Decatur, in command of the frigate 
United States, of forty-four guns, met 
and captured the British frigate Mace- 
donian, mounting forty-nine guns and 
manned by three hundred men. The 
action continued an hour and a half. 
The loss of the Macedonian was thirty- 
six killed and sixty-eight wounded; 
while the loss on the United States was 
only seven killed and five wounded. 
The Macedonian was brought into New 
York, and the gallant Decatur, who, 
when lieutenant, had so signally dis- 
tinguished himself at Tripoli, was wel- 
comed with the applause and honors 
which he had so nobly won. 

Foitrth. On the 29th of December 
the Constitution, familiarly called by 
the sailors Old Ironsides, then in com- 
mand of Commodore Bainbridge, had 
another encounter at sea. This was 



M 




m\2£^} 




D£AfffcrfiAKBMffAMArJf£ttr0filEANS-rSf5 3ATi^or//^/C£/iMAN-/^S^ 




29 



30 



OUR SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 



with the British frigate Java, of thirty- 
eight guns. The action was fought off 
San Salvador, and lasted three hours. 
The Java was dismasted and reduced to 
a wreck, losing one hundred and sixty- 
one killed and wounded, while the loss 
of the Constitution in killed and 
wounded was but thirty-four. 

Fifth. In addition to these victories 
of the public vessels. United States 
privateers, fitted out under letters of 



to the time of Mr. Madison's inaugu- 
ration for a second Presidential term. 
Soon after this, on the 8th of March, 
1813, the Russian Minister at Washing- 
ton, Mr. Daschcoff, communicated to 
the President of the United States an 
offer from the Emperor Alexander os' 
his mediation between the United 
States and Great Britain, with a view 
to bring about peace between them. 
Mr. Madison promptly and formally 




THE WASP SOARDING THE FROLIC. 



marque, succeeded in severely distress- 
ing the enemy's commerce, capturing 
about five hundred of their merchant- 
men and taking three thousand prison- 
ers during the first seven months of the 
war. England, as Napoleon had pre- 
dicted, had found an enemy which was 
ably contesting her supremacy as mis- 
tress of the sea. 

Such was the aspect of affairs on 
land and sea in the progress of war up 



accepted the Russian mediation, and 
appointed Mr. Gallatin, John Quincy 
Adams and James A. Bayard, commis- 
sioners to negotiate a treaty of peace 
with Great Britain, under the auspices 
of the tendered mediation. Messrs. 
Gallatin and Bayard soon set out on 
the mission to join Mr. Adams at St 
Petersburg, where he was then resident 
Minister of the United States. The 
British Government declined the medi- 



OUR SHCOND WAR WiTH GREAT BRITAIN. 



31 



ation, and nothing came of this com- 
mission. 

The first session of the Thirteenth 
Congress met on the 24th of May, 18 13. 
The principal business of this Congress 
was to provide means to carry on the 
war and sustain the public credit. 
Direct taxes and excises were again re- 
sorted to. The expenditures of the 
v/ar had greatly exceeded the estimates. 
New loans had to be made and pro- 
vided for. The public finances were 
in a state of much embarrassment; 
treasury notes issued according to act 
of Congress were at a great discount; 
the loans authorized by the Govern- 
ment were paid in depreciated currency; 
all the banks in the Union had sus- 
pended specie payments, except some 
in the New England States. Proper 
arms and clothing for the militia when 
called into the field were both wantinof. 
Already the war spirit was beginning 
to abate in several quarters, especially 
in New England. 

Canada Invaded. 

Still the invasion of Canada was the 
leading object of the administration. 
The campaign planned for this purpose 
in 1813 was similar to that of 18 12. 
The operations extended along the 
whole northern frontier of the United 
States. The army of the West, under 
General Harrison, was stationed at the 
head of Lake Erie; that at the east 
end of the line, under the command of 
General Hampton, on the shore of Lake 
Champlain; while that of the centre, 
under Dearborn, the commander-in- 
chief, was placed between the Lakes 
Ontario and Erie. 

The result of this campaign, in view 
of its main object, the conquest of 



Canada, was very little more successful 
than that of the year before. There 
were many movements and counter- 
movements of forces, advances, retreats 
and sieges, with some pitched battles, 
in which great valor was displayed, but 
no one of them was attended with any 
decisive results. 

Noted Events. 

The most noted events of this cam- 
paign may be thus briefly stated : First. 
The slaughter of the United States 
prisoners at Frenchtown, in Canada, on 
the 22nd of January, 18 13. Colonel 
Proctor, the British officer to whom 
General Winchester had surrendered a 
force of several hundred men, in viola- 
tion of his pledge, turned the prisoners 
over to the vengeance of the Indians; 
or at least did not restrain his allies, 
the savages, in their most atrocious 
acts of barbarity upou their unarmed 
victims. 

Second. The battle of York, or To- 
ronto, in Upper Canada, on the 27th of 
April, in which the young and gallant 
United States officer, General Zebulon 
M. Pike, was killed. He expired in 
the hour of victory. TJiird. The siege 
of Fort Meigs by Proctor, and its suc- 
cessful defence by Harrison in the 
month of May. Fourth. The subse- 
quent siege of Fort Sandusky by Proctor 
in the same month, and its like gallant 
defence by Major Croghan. Fifth. The 
battle of Sackett's Harbor on the 29th 
of May, in which the British General 
Prevost was signally repulsed. Sixth. 
The capture on the same day of the 
British Fort George by the United 
States troops. Seventh. The battle of 
Lake Erie, fought on the loth of Sep- 
tember. This was a naval engage- 



32 



OUR SBCOlSTD WAR WITH GREAT BRlTAiK. 



ment, planned and executed by Com- 
modore Perry. Its results stand briefly 
chronicled in his report of it to General 
Harrison in these words : "We have 
met the enemy, and they are ours ! — 
two ships, two brigs, one schooner and 
one sloop." 

Eighth. The battle of the Thames, 
as it is called, fought by Harrison on 
the 5 th of October, and in which he 
gained a complete victory. It was in 
this battle that the famous Indian war- 
rior Tecumseh was killed by the hands 
of Colonel R. M. Johnson, of Ken- 
tucky. Soon after this General Harri- 
son resigned his commission and re- 
tired from the service. General Dear- 
born had previously resigned, when the 
chief command had been conferred 
upon General James Wilkinson. 

Indians in Arms. 

Meanwhile the Creek Indians in Geor- 
gia and Alabama had taken up arms. 
On the 30th of August they had sur- 
prised Fort Mims on the Chattahoochee 
river, and massacred nearly three hun- 
dred persons, men, women and children. 
The militia of Georgia and Tennessee 
were called out. Those of Georgia were 
under the command of General John 
Floyd ; the whole were under the direc- 
tion of Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, 
with the commission of Major-General. 
Floyd had two engagements with the 
enemy ; one at Callabee, the other at 
Autossee. Both were successful. The 
Indian town of Autossee was burned by 
him on the 29th of November. A de- 
tachment of the Tennessee forces, under 
General Coffee, had an engagement at 
Tallusahatchee on the 3d of November, 
in which two hundred Indians were 
killed. His success was complete. On 



the 8th of November the battle of Tal- 
ladega was fought under the immediate 
direction of Jackson himself. This was 
another complete victory. 

Completely Defeated. 

Soon after, another fight was had at 
Emuckfau, with a like result. The 
Indians rallied again, and made their 
last stand at a place known as " The 
Horseshoe Bend," or, as they called it, 
"Tohopeka," on the Tallapoosa river. 
Here they were completely crushed by 
Jackson in his great victory of the 27th 
of March following. A treaty of peace 
with them was soon after made. The 
speech of their chief warrior and prophet 
Witherford, on the occasion of his sur- 
render to General Jackson, and as re- 
ported by him at the time, dej-'irves 
perpetuation. 

"I am,'' said he, "in your power. 
Do with me as you please. I am a soh 
dier. I have done the white people all 
the harm I could. I have fought them, 
and fought them bravely. If I had an 
army, I would yet fight, and contend to 
the last. But I have none. My people 
are all gone. I can now do no more than 
weep over the misfortunes of my nation. 
Once I could animate my warriors to 
battle ; but I cannot animate the dead. 
My warriors can no longer hear my 
voice. Their bones are at Talladega, 
Tallusahatchee, Emuckfau, and Toho- 
peka. I have not surrendered myself 
thoughtlessly. Whilst there were any 
chances for success, I never left my post, 
nor supplicated peace. But my people 
are gone ; and I now ask it for my na- 
tion and for myself. ' ' 

The operations on the sea in 1813 
continued, upon the whole, to add lustre 
to the infant navy of the United States. 



u 



Our second war with great britain. 



The most noted of these, the successful 
as well as the adverse, were as follows : 
FirsL Captain Lawrence, of the 
United States sloop-of-war Hornet, 
on the 24th of February, met and cap- 
tured the British brig Peacock, in a 
conflict that lasted only fifteen minutes. 
The Peacock, in striking her colors, 
displayed, at the same time, a signal of 
distress. Captain Lawrence made the 
greatest exertions to save her crew, but 
she went down before all of them could 
be gotten off, carrying with her three 
brave and generous United States sea- 
men, who were extending their aid. 

A Famous Victory. 

Second. On the ist of June, the British 
frigate Shannon captured the United 
States frigate Chesapeake. The 
Chesapeake at this time was in the 
command of Lawrence. Every officer 
on board of her was either killed or 
wounded. Lawrence, as he was carried 
below, weltering in blood, and just 
before expiring, issued his last heroic 
order — " Don"^ t give up the ship !' ' But 
the fortunes of battle decided otherwise. 

Third. The British met another like 
success on the 14th of August, in the 
capture of the United States brig 
Argus, by the Pelican. The 

Argus had carried Mr. Crawford, 
United States Minister, to France, in the 
month of May ; after which she made a 
orilliant cruise, capturing more than 
twenty of the enemy's ships, wlien she 
was in turn captured, as stated. Her 
colors, however, were not struck in 
her last engagement, until Captain 
Allen, in command, had fallen mortally 
wounded. 

Fourth. In September the United 
States brig Enterprise met the 



British brig Boxer, on the coast of 
Maine, and after an engagement of forty 
minutes the Boxer surrendered. The 
commanders of both vessels fell in the 
action, and were buried beside each 
other in Portland, with military honors. 

Fifth. During the summer Commo- 
dore Porter, of the frigate Essex 
after making many captures of British 
merchantmen in the Atlantic, visited 
the Pacific ocean, where he was no less 
signally successful. 

Sixth. During the same summer, 
British fleets entered the waters of the 
Delaw^are and Chesapeake bays, under 
the command of Admiral George Cock- 
burn. All small merchant ships within 
their reach were destroyed, and much 
damage done to many of the towns on 
the coast. Frenchtown, Georgetown, 
Havre de Grace and Fredericktown 
were burned. An attack was made 
upon Norfolk, which was repulsed with 
heavy loss. After committing many 
barbarities at Hampton, Cock burn, with 
his command, sailed south All the 
ports north, to the limits of the New 
England coast, were kept in close 
blockade. 

Peace Comniission 

During the session of the Congress, 
which convened in December, 18 13, a 
communication was received from the 
British government, of the purport that, 
although they had declined to treat 
under the mediation of Russia, yet they 
were willing to enter into direct nego- 
tiations either in London or Gotten- 
burg. The offer was immediately ac- 
ceded to, and the latter place appointed 
for the meeting. Henry Clay and Jona- 
than Russell were added to the Com- 
missioners who had already been sent 



OUR SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 



35 



to Europe. The place of meeting was 
afterwards changed from Gottenburg 
to Ghent. 

The country at this time was feeling 
sorely the ills of war everywhere. New 
loans had to be made; increased taxes 
had to be levied ; more troops had to 
be raised. The conquest of Canada 
was still the chief object of the admin- 
istration. 

Events of the Campaign. 

The plan of the campaign of 1814 
was projected by General Armstrong, 
the Secretary of War. The Depart- 
ment of War was temporarily removed 
to the frontier, and established at the 
headquarters of the army on the Canada 
line. The operations in this quarter 
during this year, as those of 181 3, were 
attended with many marches and coun- 
ter-marches, and much gallant fighting 
on both sides, but without any decisive 
results on either. The most noted 
events connected "dth them may be 
thus summed uf 

First. The advance of Wilkinson 
into Canada commenced in March, and 
ended with the affair at La Cole Mill, 
on the 31st of that month, in which he 
was defeated with heavy loss. Soon 
after this he was superseded, and the 
chief command given to General Izard. 

Second. The battle of Chippewa, 
which was fought on the 5th of July 
by General Brown, and in which the 
United States forces won the day. 

Third. The battle of Bridgewater, 
or Lundy's Lane, which was fought on 
the 25th of July. It was here that 
Colonel Winfield Scott, in command 
of a brigade, so signally distinguished 
himself Two horses were shot under 
him and he himself was severely 



wounded, but was more than compen- 
sated by the victory achieved. Con- 
gress voted him a gold medal, and he 
was soon promoted to a major-general- 
ship. 

Fourth. The battle of Fort Erie, 
fought on the 15th of August, in which 
the British General Drummond was 
repulsed with great loss. 

Fifth. The battle of Plattsburg, 
which was fought on the nth of Sep- 
tember. This was a joint land and 
naval action. General Macomb com- 
manded the United States land forces 
at this place ; General Prevost com- 
manded those of the British. The 
United States naval forces were com- 
manded by Commodore MacDonough ; 
the British fleet was commanded by 
Commodore Downie. The assault was 
commenced by Prevost with his land 
forces. As Commodore Downie moved 
up to assist with his fleet, he was met 
and engaged by MacDonough with his 
small flotilla. 

Capture of the British Fleet. 

The chief interest of both armies was 
now diverted from the action on land 
to that on water, while the conflict be- 
tween the fleet and flotilla lasted. It 
continued for upwards of two hours, and 
was fierce as well as bloody. It ended 
in the surrender of the British fleet to 
Commodore MacDonough. Commodore 
Downie was killed in the fight, and 
when his flagship struck her colors, 
the results of the day were decided on 
land as well as on the water. Prevost 
immediately retreated. This victory 
ended all active operations in that quar- 
ter. 

Meantime, during the summer of 
1 8 14 a fleet of fifty or sixty vessels ar- 



36 



OUR SECOND WAR WITH GRKAT BRITAIN. 



rived in the Chesapeake bay under Ad- 
mirals Cockburn and Cochrane, bring- 
ing a large land force under General 
Ross. The design was the capture of 
the city of Washington. Ross landed 
five thousand men on the 19th of Au- 
gust, at the head of the Patuxent, and 
commenced his march overland. There 
were at the time no forces for defence 
near the capital. The raw militia were 
hastily collected and put under General 
Winder, who met the enemy at Bladens- 
burg. The President and cabinet left 
the city. Winder with his militia was 
barely able to retard the advance of 
Ross. He entered Washington the 24th 
of August, and burned most of the pub- 
lic buildings, including the President's 
house and the capitol. 

Repulse of the Enemy. 

The troops then returned to their 
shipping, and proceeded up the Chesa- 
peake. Landing at North Point, they 
advanced on Baltimore. This place was 
defended by General Striker, with a force 
consisting mostly of raw militia and 
volunteers. In an action which took 
place on the 12th of September, Ross 
was killed, and his forces retired. After 
an unsuccessful attack of the British 
fle^t under Cockburn, upon Fort Mc- 
Henrj;, which commanded the entrance 
to the city, the whole army re-embarked 
and left the bay. 

During this bombardment of Fort Mc- 
Henry by Cockburn, which lasted anight 
and a whole day, Francis Scott Key, of 
Baltimore, then detained on board one 
of the British vessels, whither he had 
gone on some public mission, as he 
gazed most anxiously upon the flag of 
his country, still floating triumphantly 
on the ramparts in the midst of the 



heavy cannonading, composed his soul- 
stirring song, the " Star Spangled Ban- 
ner." The reader will be interested in 
the accompanying fac-simile of the 
original song, one of the most famous 
ever composed, the popularity of which 
only increases with ^he lapse of time. 

The New England States suffered 
much in the same way during the sum- 
mer. Stonington was bombarded, and 
attempts were made to land an invading 
force at several places, which were re- 
pulsed by the militia. 

Grains and Losses. 

The operations of the respective 
navies on the ocean during the year 
1 8 14 resulted about as they did in 181 3. 
The United States lost two war-ships 
and captured five of like character, be- 
sides many British merchantmen. 

Mr. Gerry, the Vice-President, died 
suddenly in Washington on the 23d of 
November of this year. John Gaillard, 
of South Carolina, succeeded him as 
President of the Senate pro tempore. 

While these events were occurring on 
land and water, during the summer of 
1 8 14, the hostility in the New England 
States to the Federal administration had 
ripened into a determination to take de- 
cisive steps for the maintenance of their 
own rights in their owTi. way. A ma- 
jority of the people of these States were 
strongly opposed to the conquest of 
Canada. Massachusetts and Connecti- 
cut, throwing themselves upon their re- 
served rights under the Constitution, 
refused to .•.llow their militia to be sent 
out of their States, in what they deemed 
a war of aggression against others, 
especially when they were needed for 
their own defence in repelling an inva- 
sion. 




tu < ? 



I- Q 

< UJ 



z ^ 



OUR SECOxND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 37 

C^. /^^^ W^>^, iW-t!^ y««o^ y^^^ jjC '25i:^ '^x^ucTS'^'^ *^-y^ 

FAC-SIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL COPY OF THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNEK 



38 



OUR SECONu WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 



For this course they were very 
severely censured by most of their sister 
States, and the more so from the fact 
that the war had been entered upon for 
the joint maintenance of the rights of 
their seamen and commerce. Moreover, 
it was insisted upon by the friends of 
the administration, that the mode of 
warfare adopted was the surest for the 
attainment of tlie objects aimed at. But 
what increased the opposition of the 
New England States at this time was 
the refusal of the administration to pay 
the expenses of their militia, called out 
by the governors of their respective 
States for their own local defence. 

The Hartford Convention. 

This refusal was based upon the 
ground that these States had refused to 
send their militia out of their limits 
upon a Federal call. To this may be 
added the new scheme of the adminis- 
tration for forcing the militia of the 
respective States outside of their limits, 
not by a call on the governors of the 
States for them, but by a general act of 
Federal conscription, which was con- 
sidered by many able statesmen and 
jurists as clearly unconstitutional. 

It was in this condition of things that 
the IvCgislature of Massachusetts in- 
vited the neighboring States to meet in 
convention for mutual consultation. 
Accordingly, a convention of delegates 
from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New 
Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut, 
met at Hartford, in the latter State, on 
the 15 th day of December, 18 14. The 
deliberations of this famous body were 
held within closed doors. What the real 
ultimate designs of the leading members 
of it were, have never been fully dis- 
closed. Some mystery has ever hung 



over it. But the resolutions adopted by 
it, and the public address put forth by 
it at the time, very clearly indicate that 
the purpose was, either to effect a change 
of policy on the part of the Federal ad- 
ministration in the conduct of the war, 
or for these States, in the exercise of 
their sovereign rights, to provide for 
their own well-being, as they thought 
best, by withdrawing from the Union. 
The only positive results of the con- 
vention were, the appointment of a dep- 
utation of the body to wait upon the 
Federal authorities at Washington, co 
whom in person their views were to be 
presented, and the call of another con- 
vention, to which this deputation was 
to report, before any further decisive 
action should be taken. 

British Force Landed. 

In the meantime, it became known 
that a large British force — of at least 
twelve thousand men — had been landed 
at or near the mouth of the Mississippi 
river, under Sir Edward Pakenham. 
The country everywhere was in tlie 
greatest alarm for the safety of New 
Orleans. The command of this depart- 
ment was now in charge of General 
Jackson, with such forces as he could 
collect, consisting mostly of volunteers 
and militia, amounting in all to not 
more than one half the numbers of the 
approaching foe. He went vigorously 
to work to repel this most formidable 
invasion. With such means of resist- 
ance as the genius of a "born general " 
only can improvise, he was soon in an 
attitude of defence. The result was the 
ever-memorable charge of the British, 
and their bloody repulse by Jackson, on 
the 8th of January, 18 15. 

This was the most brilliant victory 



40 



OUR SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 



achieved by the arms of the United 
States during the war. Two thousand 
British soldiers, led in a charge on 
Jackson's breastworks, were left dead 
or wounded upon the field. Pakenham 
himself was killed. Major-Generals 
Gibbs and Keane, the two officers next 
in command, were both wounded, the 
former mortally ; while Jackson's loss 
was only seven killed and six wounded. 

The War Ended. 

Upon the heels of the news of this 
splendid achievement, which electrified 
the country with joy, came the still 
more gratifying intelligence of a treaty 
of peace, which the commissioners had 
effected at Ghent on the 24th of Decem- 
ber, 1 8 14, fifteen days before this great 
battle was fought. All discontents 
ceased, and in the general joy at this 
close of the bloody scenes of two years 
and over, it seemed to be entirely for- 
gotten or overlooked that not one word 
was said in the treaty about the right of 
search or impressment by Great Britain, 
which was the main point in issue at 
the commencement of the war. 

The treaty of peace with England 
was promptly ratified, and all necessary 
steps for a disbandment of the army 
were immediately taken by Congress. 
But further work was in store for the 
navy. The Dey of Algiers — in viola- 
tion of the treaty of 1795 — had recently 
been committing outrages upon Amer- 
» ican commerce within his waters. 

Another war against him was soon 
afterwards declared. The gallant De- 
catur was sent with a fleet to the Medi- 
terranean for the chastisement of this 
piratical power. He in a short time 
captured two Algerine ships and brought 
the Dey to terms. A treaty of peace 



was made on the 30th of June, by which 
the United States obtained, not only se- 
curity for the future, but indemnity for 
the past. 

William H. Crawford, on his return 
from Paris, where he had been resident 
United States Minister for some time, 
was appointed Secretary of War, ist of 
August, 181 5. 

The charter of the first bank of the 
United States having expired in 181 1, 
and an act for its renewal having failed 
to pass, several attempts afterwards were 
made to obtain a charter for a similar 
institution, which likewise failed. A 
bill for this purpose, which had passed 
both houses of Congress, was vetoed by 
Mr. Madison, in January, 18 14. But 
on the lotli of April, 18 16, another bill, 
of like character, received his approval, 
by which a new bank of the United 
States was incorporated for twenty 
years, with a capital of thirty-five mil- 
lion dollars. 

Indiana in the Union. 

On the 19th day of April, 1816, an 
act was passed for the admission of 
Indiana into the Union as a State. 

During the fall of 18 16 another Pres- 
idential election took place. There was 
at this time considerable division among 
the Republicans as to who the succes- 
sor should be. Mr. Madison had posi- 
tively declined standing for re-election. 
The choice of candidates finally made 
by the Democratic members of Congress 
in cau(;us was : Mr. Monroe for Presi- 
dent; and Governor Daniel D. Tomp- 
kins, of New York, for Vice-President. 
The Federal party, still so-called, nomi- 
nated Rufus King of New York, for 
President ; and John Eager Howard, 
of Maryland, for Vice-President. 



OUR SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 



41 



The result of the vote of the Elec- 
toral Colleges was 183 for Mr. Monroe, 
and 34 for Mr. King ; 183 for Governor 
Tompkins, and 22 for Mr. Howard. 
The vote by States between the Demo- 
cratic and Federal tickets at this elec 
tion stood : 16 for the Democratic and 
three for the Federal. The sixteen 
States that voted for Mr. Monroe and 
Mr. Tompkins were : New Hamp- 
shire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, Virginia, North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, Ohio, lyouisiana, and Indiana. 
The three that voted for Mr. King 
were : Massachusetts, Connecticut and 
Delaware. 

After the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. 
Madison retired from office, leaving the 
country at peace with the world, and 
rapidly recovering from the injurious 
effects of the late war. He returned to 
his home at Montpelier, Virginia, where 
he enjoyed the society of his friends 
and the general esteem of his country- 
men. 

The most distinguishing feature of 
his administration was the war with 



Great Britain. Whatever may be 
thought of the wisdom or policy of that 
war, or of its general conduct, the re- 
sult unquestionably added greatly to 
the public character of the United 
States in the estimation of fereign 
powers. The price at which this had 
been purchased was, in round numbers, 
about one hundred million dollars in 
public expenditures, and the loss of 
about thirty thousand men, including 
those who fell in battle as well as those 
who died of disease contracted in the 
service. 

Of the amount of private or individ- 
ual losses no approximate estimate can 
be made ; and though in the treaty of 
peace nothing was said about the main 
cause for which the war was prosecuted, 
yet Great Britain afterwards refrained 
from giving any offence in the practical 
assertion of her theoretic right of search 
and impressment. Whether the same 
ends could have been attained by any 
other course which would not have 
involved a like sacrifice of treasure and 
blood, is a problem that can never be 
satisfactorily solved by human specu- 
lation. 



CHAPTER III. 

Drigin and Growth of the Mormons. 






MONG the important events in 
the United States occurring 
during the century must be 
mentioned the rise and 
growth of the new and strange sect 
known as the Mormons, or the Church 
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It 
was founded by Joseph Smith, at Man- 
chester, New York, in 1830, and after 
many vicissitudes finally settled in Salt 
lyake City in Utah. Smith was born 
December 23rd, 1805, at Sharon, Wind- 
sor County, Vermont, from which place 
ten years later his parents, a poor, ignor- 
ant, thriftless and not too honest couple, 
removed to New York, where they set- 
tled on a small farm near Palmyra, 
Wayne County (then Ontario). 

Four years later, in 1809, they re- 
moved to Manchester, some six miles 
distant, and it was at the latter place 
when fifteen years old that Smith began 
to have his alleged visions, in one of 
which on the night of 21st of Septem- 
ber, 1823, the angel Moroni appeared 
to him three times and told him that 
the Bible of the Western Continent, the 
supplement to the New Testament, was 
buried in a certain spot near Man- 
chester. Thither, four years later and 
after due disciplinary probation, Smith 
went and had delivered into his charge 
by an angel of the Lord a stone box, in 
which was a volume six inches thick, 
made of thin gold plates eight inches 
by seven, and fastened together by three 
gold rings. 

The plates were covered with small 
writing in the "Reformed Egyptian" 
tongue, and were accompanied by a 
42 



pair of supernatural spectacles, consist- 
ing of two crystals set in a silver bow, 
and called " Urim and Thummim ; " 
by aid of these the mystic characters 
could be read. 

Being himself unable to read or wnte 
fluently. Smith employed as amanuensis, 
one Oliver Cowdery, to whom, from 
behind a curtain, he dictated a transla- 
tion, which, with the aid of a farmer, 
Martin Harris, who had more money 
chan wit, was printed and published in 
1830 under the title of T/ic Book of 
Mormoti^ and accompanied by the sworn 
statement of Oliver Cowdery, David 
Whitmer, and Martin Harris that an 
angel of God had shown them the plates 
of which the book was a translation. 

They Swore Falsely. 

This testimony all three, on renounc- 
ing Mormonism some years later, de- 
nounced as false ; but meanwhile it 
helped Smith to impose on the credu- 
lous, particularly in the absence of the 
gold plates themselves, which suddenly 
and mysteriously disappeared. 

The Book oj Mormon^ in which Jos- 
eph Smith was declared to be God's 
"prophet," with all power and entitled 
to all obedience, professes to give the 
history of America from its first settle- 
ment by a colony of refugees from 
among the crowd dispersed by the con- 
fusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel 
down to the year 5 A. D. These settlers 
having in course of time destroyed one 
another, nothing of importance occurred 
until 600 B. c, when Lehi, his wife and 
four sons, with ten friends, all from 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH UF THE MORMONS. 



43 



Jerusalem, landed on the coast 
Chili, and eflfected a settlement. 



r 



SI 

CI 









i 






All went 
Lehi, when 



well until the death ot 
the divine ap^^ointment to 



the leadership of Nephi, the youngest 
son, roused the resentment of his elder 
brothers, who were in consequence con- 
demned to have dark skins and to be an 
idle mischievous race— hence the North 
American Indians. Between the Ne- 
phites and the bad Hebrews a fierct^ 
war was maintained for centuries, until 
finally, in spite of divine intervention 
in the person of the crucified Christ, 
the Nephites fell away from the true 
faith, and in 384 a. d. were nearly 
annihilated by their dark-skinned foes 
in a battle at the hill of Cumorah in 
Ontario county, New York. 

Among the handful that escaped were 
Mormon and his son Moroni, the for- 
mer of whom collected the sixteen 
books of records, kept by successive 
kings and priests, into one volume, 
which on his death was supplemented 
by his son with some personal remi- 
niscences and by him buried in the hill 
' of Cumorah — he being divinely assured 
that tlie book would one day be discov- 
ered by God's chosen prophet. 

A Historical Romance. 

This is Smith's account of the book, 
but in reality it was written in 18 12 as 
an histoncal romance by one Solomon 
Spalding, a crack-brained preacher; 
and the MS. falling into the hands of an 
unscrupulous compositor, Sidney Rig- 
don, was copied by him, and subse- 
quently given to Joseph Smith. Armed 
with this book and with self-assumed 
divine authority, the latter soon began 
to attract followers. 

On 6th of April, 1830, the first con- 
ference of the new sect, called by their 
neighbors Mormons, but by themse]\es 
subsequently Latter-Day Saints of Jesu'^ 
Christ, was held at Fayette, Sen'.ca 



44 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE MORMONS. 



county, New York, and in the same 
year another revelation was received by 
Smith, proclaiming him "seer, trans- 
lator, prophet, apostle of Jesus Christ, 
and elder of the church." Smith now 
began to baptize; but, his character, 
^ wliich was none of the best, being too 
well known in Fayette, he found it 
convenient to remove with his follow- 
ers, now thirty in number, to Kirtland, 
Ohio, which was to be the seat c ^ the 
New Jerusalem. 

Tarred and Feathered 

Here he had another revelation, di- 
recting the saints to consecrate all their 
property to God and to start a bank. 
This being done, and Smith appointed 
president of the bank, the country was 
soon flooded with worthless notes, which 
fact, added to other grievances, so en- 
raged the neighboring Christian settlers, 
that on the night of 22nd of May, 1832, 
a number of them dragged Smith and 
Rigdon from their beds and tarred and 
feathered them. One year later, the 
church was fairly organized, with three 
presidents, Smith, Rigdon, and Freder- 
ick G. Williams, who were styled the 
first presidency, and entrusted with the 
keys of the last kingdom. 

About this time the licentiousness of 
Smith might have led to the dissolution 
of the church but for the accession of 
Brigham Young, a Vermont painter and 
glazier, thirty years old, who turned up 
in Kirtland in 1832, and was immedi- 
ately ordained elder. Young's indomi- 
table will, persuasive eloquence, execu- 
tive ability, shrewdness, and zeal, soon 
made their influence felt, and, when a 
further step was taken in 1835 towards 
the organization of a hierarchy by the 
institution of the quorum of the "twelve 



apostles," who were sent out as prosely- 
tizing missionaries among the "gen- 
tiles," Young was ordained one of the 
"twelve," and despatched to preach 
throughout the eastern States. 

In 1836 a large temple was consecra- 
ted in Kirtland, and in the following 
year Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimbali 
were sent off as missionaries to England, 
where, among the laboring masses in 
Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, 
Leeds, Glasgow, and the mining dis- 
tricts of South Wales they achieved a 
remarkable success. Early in 1838 the 
Kirtland bank failed, and Smith and 
Rigdon fled to Caldwell county, Mis- 
souri, where a large body of the saints, 
after having been driven successively 
from Jackson and Clay counties, had 
taken refuge and flourished. 

A Profligate Impostor. 

Smith's troubles, however, continued 
to increase. His gross profligacy had re- 
pelled many of his leading supporters 
and bred internal dissensions, while from 
the outside the brethren were harassed 
and threatened by the steadily growing 
hostility of the native Missourians. To 
counteract the efforts of his enemies, a 
secret society was organized in Smith's 
favor in October, 1838, called the Dan- 
ites, with the avowed purpose of sup- 
porting Smith at all hazards, of up- 
holding the authority of his revelation 
and decrees as superior to the laws of 
the land, and of helping him to get 
possession, first of the State, then of the 
United States, and ultimately of the 
world. 

To such a height did the inner dis- 
sensions and the conflicts with the " gen- 
tiles" grow that they assumed the pro- 
portions of a civil war, and necessitated 



,ov^j£!Lf^ 




lOPYRI&HT, 1894, BY K U R t i ALLISON 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE MORMONS. 



45 



the calling- out of the State militia. 
Defying;- the legal officers, Smith forti- 
fied the town and armed the saints, but 
finally had to succumb to superior num- 
bers. Smith and Rigdon were arrested 



shortly afterwards rejoined by Smith, 
who succeeded in escaping from prison, 
and, having- obtained a charter, ther 
founded the city of Nauvoo. 

Such were the powers granted them 




NEW MORMON TEMPLE IN SALT LAKE CITY. 



and imprisoned on a charge of treason, 
murder and felony, and their followers 
to the number of 15,000 crossed over 
into Illinois and settled near Commerce, 
Hancock county. Here they were 



by this charter as to render the city 
practically independent of the State 
Government, and to give Smith all but 
unlimited evil power. He organized a 
military body called the Nauvoo legion, 



46 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE MORINIONS. 



of which he constituted himself com- 
mander with the title of lieutenant-gen- 
eral, while he was also president of the 
church and mayor of the city. On April 
6th, 1 84 1, the foundations of the new 
temple were laid, and the city continued 
to grow rapidly in prosperity and size. 
But Smith's vices were beginning to 
bear fruit. Some years previously he 
had prevailed on several women to co- 
habit with him, and in order to pacify 
his lawful wife and silence the objec- 
tions of the saints he had a revelation on 
July 1 2th, 1843, expressly establishing 
and approving polygamy. The procla- 
mation of the new doctrine excited 
widespread indignation, which found 
special expression in the pages of the 
Expositor^ a newspaper published by an 
old friend of Smith, one Dr. Foster. 

Shot Dead by a Mob. 

Smith at once caused the Expositor 
printing-office to be razed and Foster 
expelled, on which the latter procured 
a warrant for the arrest of Smith, his 
brother Hyrum, and sixteen others. 
Smith resisted ; the militia was called 
out ; the Mormons armed themselves ; 
and a civil war seemed imminent, when 
the governor of the State persuaded 
Smith to surrender and stand his trial. 
Accordingly, on June 27, 1844, he and 
Hyrum were imprisoned in Carthage 
jail ; but that same night a mob broke 
into the prison, dragged out Smith and 
his brother and shot them dead. 

This shooting was the most fortunate 
thing that had ever happened to the 
Mormon cause, investing the murdered 
president with the halo of martyrdom, 
and effacing public recollection of his 
vices in the lustre of a glorious death. 
Of the confusion that followed Smith's 



" taking off," Brigham Young profited 
by procuring his own election to the 
presidency by the council of the "twelve 
apostles," — a position for which his 
splendid executive abilities well fitted 
him, as subsequent events abundantly 
proved. 

The following year witnessed what 
appeared to be the culmination of their 
misfortunes. The legislature of Illinois 
repealed the charter of Nauvoo, and so 
critical did the situation become that 
the leaders resolved to emigrate imme- 
diately, and preparations were' begun 
for a general exodus westward. Barly in 
1846 a large number of the body met at 
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and those who had 
stayed behind soon found cause to re- 
gret that they too had not left Nauvoo, 
as in the September of the same year 
that city was cannonaded, and the Mor- 
mons were driven out. 

Shrewd Speculation. 

The sujsequent history of Nauvoo is 
interesting. The new citizens sent 
abroad highly colored circulars about 
the great water-power and natural site, 
and a great speculation followed, which 
ended in a collapse, and the city shrank 
to a little hamlet of perhaps 700 people. 
Then came the Icarians, French Com- 
munists, under the lead of M. Cabet. 
These proposed to fit up the temple for 
a social hall and school-room. 

But at 2 A. M. of November 10, 1848, 
it was found to be on fire, and before 
daylight every particle of woodwork 
was destroyed. It was set on fire in the 
third story of the steeple, one hundred 
and forty feet from the ground. Tlie 
dry pine burned like tinder. There was 
no mode of reaching the fire, and in 
twenty minutes the whole wooden in- 



ORiniN AND GROWTH OF THE MORMONS. 



47 



terior was a mass of flames. In two 
hours nothing remained but hot walls 
enclosing a bed of embers. Afterwards 
a man residing fourteen miles distant 
confessed that he 
set it on fire. He 
had suffered at the 
hands of the Mor- 
mons and swore no 
trace of them should 
cumber the soil of 
Illinois. 

Meanwhile pio- 
neers had been de- 
spatched to the 
Great Salt Lake 
valley, Utah, and, 
their report prov- 
ing favorable, a 
large body of emi- 
grants was marched 
with military disci- 
pline across the wil- 
derness to the val- 
ley, where they im- 
mediately proceed- 
ed to found Salt 
Lake City, and 
where on Jtily 24, 
1847, they were 
joined by their 
chief, Brigham 
Young. In the 
May following the 
main body of the 
saints set out to 
rejoin their breth- 
ren, and in the au- 
tumn of that year 



a barren wilderness into a fertile and 
blooming garden. 

An emigration fund was organize^, 
missionaries were sent out, and soon 




reached Salt Lake City. Large tracts 
of land were at once put under cultiva- 
tion, a great city sprang up as by 
magic, and the untiring industry, en- 
ergy, and z-^al of the emig'"?nts turned 



JOE SMITH KILLED BY A MOB OF INDIGNANT CITIZENS, 
settlers began to pour in from all quar- 
ters of the globe, particularly from 
Great Britain, Sweden and Norway, and 
in less numbers from Germany, Swit- 
zerland and France. Strangely enough. 



48 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE MOR^TONS. 



and the fact deserves emphasis, Ireland 
has furnished few if any recruits to the 
cause of Mormonisni, In March, 1849, 
a convention was held at Salt Lake 
City, and a State was organized under 
the name of Deseret, meaning "the 
land of the honey-bee." 

A legislature was also elected, and a 
constitution framed, which was sent on 
to Washington. This Congress refused 
10 recognize, and by way of compromise 
for declining to admit the proposed new 
State into the Union, President Fill- 
more in 1850 organized the country oc- 
cupied by the Mormons into the Terri- 
tory of Utah, with Brigham Young as 
governor. District judges were also ap- 
pointed by the Federal Government; 
but in 185 1, a few months after their 
appointment, they were forced to leave 
by the aggressive tactics of Young. 
Such bold defiance of the Federal Gov- 
ernment could not be ignored; Brigham 
was suspended from the governorship, 
and Colonel Steptoe of the United States 
army appointed in his stead. 

Daring Outrages. 

The new governor, backed by a bat- 
talion of soldiers, arrived in Utah in 
August, 1854; but so strong was the op- 
position which he met with that he 
dared not assume office, and was forced 
to content himself with merely winter- 
ing in Salt Lake City, after which he 
withdrew his troops to California. Nor 
did the other civil officers appointed by 
the United States Government at the 
same time show any bolder front. In 
February, 1856, a band of armed Mor- 
mons broke into the court-room of the 
United States district judge, and forced 
Judge Drummond to adjourn his court 
sine die. His surrender precipitated the 



flight of the other civil officers, and with 
the sole exception of the United States 
Indian agent they withdrew from Salt 
Lake City. 

These facts led President Buchanan 
to appoint a new governor in the person 
of Alfred Cumming, the superintendent 
of Indian affiiirs on tlie upper Missouri, 
who, in 1857, went to Utah, accom- 
panied by Judge Eckels of Indiana as 
chief justice, and by a force of 2500 
soldiers. Enraged by the aggressive ac- 
tion, Brigham Young boldly called the 
saints to arms. In September the Uni- 
ted States army reached Utah, but on 
the 5 th and 6th of October, a band of 
mounted Mormons destroyed a number 
of its supply trains, and a few days later 
cut off 800 oxen from its rear and drove 
them into Salt Lake City. 

Mountain Meadows Massacre. 

The result was that the United States 
army, now commanded by Colonel A. 
S. Johnson, was compelled — it being 
now mid-November — to go into winter 
quarters at Black's Forks, near Fort 
Bridger. In the same year a party of 
Mormons and Indians, instigated and 
led by a Mormon bishop named John D. 
Lee, attacked a train of 150 non-Mor- 
mon emigrants at Mountain Meadows, 
near Utah, and massacred every soul. 
Governor Cumming at once declared 
the Territory in a state of rebellion ; 
but in the spring of 1858, through the 
intervention of Thomas L. Kane, of 
Pennsylvania, armed with letters of au- 
thority from President Buchanan, the 
Mormons were induced to submit to the 
Federal authority, and accepted a free 
offer of pardon made to them by the 
United States Government as the con- 
dition of their submission. 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH 01- THE MORMONS. 



49 



Matters being thus settled, the Federal 
troops encamped on the western shore 
of Lake Utah, some forty miles from 
Salt Lake City, where they remained 
until withdrawn from the Territory in 
i860. On the close of our Civil War a 
Federal Governor was again appointed, 
and, in 1871, polygamy was declared to 
be a criminal offence, and Brigham 
Young was arrested. 

This action, however, on the part of 



The year 1877 was otherwise signal- 
ized in Mormon history by the trial, 
conviction, and execution of John D. 
Lee, for the Mountain Valley massacre 
of 1857. Of l^te years the question of 
Mormonism has occupied public atten- 
tion. In 1873 Mr. Frelinghuysen intro- 
duced a bill severely censuring polyg- 
amy, and declaring that the wives of 
polygamists could claim relief by action 
for divorce. In 1874 the committee of 




MASSACRE OF THE MORRISITES. 



tlie United States Government was 
merely spasmodic, and the Mormons 
continued to practice polygamy, and to 
increase in wealth and numbers until 
August 29, 1877, when Brigham Young 
died, leaving a fortune of $2,000,000 to 
seventeen wives and fifty-six childrun. 
He was succeeded in office by John 
Taylor, an Englishman, although the 
actual leadership fell to George Q. Can- 
non, "first counsellor" to the president, 
and one of the ablest men in the sect. 
4 



the House of Representatives reported 
a bill which reduced Utah to the posi- 
tion of a province, placing the control 
of affairs in the hands of Federal officials, 
and practically abolishing polygamy. 

In the same year George Q. Cannon 
was elected a delegate from Utah, and 
though his election was contested it was 
confirmed by the House of Representa- 
tives. This decision, however, was ac- 
companied by the passing of a resolu- 
tion by a vote of 127 to 51, appointing 



.50 



ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE MORMONS. 



a committee of investigation into Dele- 
gate Cannon's alleged polygamy — he 
having, it was asserted, fonr wives. 
Later in the same year the Utah Judici- 
ary Bill, attacking the very foundation 
of Mormonism, passed the House in 
spite of the opposition of Cannon. 

Other steps in the same direction 
have since been taken, and bills passed, 
having for their object the extirpation 
of polygamy. The secession, chiefly 
because of his opposition to the prac- 
tice, of Brigham Young's son, a Chris- 
tian preacher, and of a large body of 
other anti-po\ygamists who claim to be 
the true Latter-Day Saints, represents 
not an individual opinion, but the 
deep-rooted conviction of a great party. 
Already there are not wanting signs of 
approaching dissolution, of which per- 
haps the most significant is the confer- 
ence of the "Re-organized Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," held 
on April 6, 1883, at Kirtland, Lake 
County, Ohio. 

Origin of the New Sect. 

This sect originated in 185 1, seven 
years after the death of Joseph Smith, 
when several officers of the church met 
and claimed to have received a revela 
tion from God, directing them to repu- 
diate Brigham Young, as not being the 
divinely-appointed and legitimate suc- 
cessor of Joseph Smith, and as being 
the promulgator of such false doctrines 
as polygamy, Adam-God worship, and 
the right to shed the blood of apostates. 

Nothing of special importance oc- 
curred, however, till 1 860, when Joseph 
Smith, Jr., the eldest son of the founder 
of the faith, became identified with the 
Re-organized Church as its president. 
Since then the seceders have prosecuted 



missionary work throughout the United 
States, Great Britain, Canada, Scandi- 
navia, Switzerland, Australia, and the 
Society Islands, until their communi- 
cants are sai.l to number over 27,000. 

Bill to Suppress Polygamy. 

On January 12, 1887, the House of 
Representatives passed without division 
a bill for the suppression of polygamy 
in the territory of Utah. Its chief pro- 
visions are: (i) Polygamy is declared 
to be a felony ; (2) the chief financial 
corporations of the Mormons are dis- 
solved, and the attorney-general is di- 
rected to wind them up by process of 
the courts ; (3) polygamists are made 
ineligible to vote; (4) all voters in Utah 
are to b? required to take an oath to 
obey the laws of the United States, and 
especially the laws against polygamy ; 
(5) woman suffrage in Utah is abolished, 
and (6) lawful wives and husbands are 
made competent witnesses against per- 
sons accused of polygamy. 

It was reported in September, 1890, 
that polygamy had been declared to be 
no longer a feature of Mormon teach- 
ing, and that it was the intention of the 
sect to submit to the ordinary laws 
binding on x\mericans. 

In the first part of April, 1893, oc- 
curred the dedication of the great tem- 
ple at Salt Lake City, built in forty 
years, at a cost stated to be ;$5,ooo,ooo. 
In September, 1894, our government 
by proclamation granted pardon to 
polygamists, and it was reported that 
among the Mormons there was a gen- 
eral disposition to observe the laws of 
the United States enacted against their 
favorite institution. In January-, 1897, 
ten coloni'^.s in New Mexico were re- 
ported to be prosperous. 



CHAPTER IV. 

War Between the United States and Mexico. 



ARLY in the century, pioneers 
from the United States began to 
find their way to Texas, which 
' was then a wild country, inhabited only 
by roving Indians and the garrisons of 
the few Spanish forts within its limits. 
One of these emigrants, Moses Austin, 
of Durham, Connecticut, conceived the 
plan of colonizing settlers from the 
United States. 

For this purpose he obtained from the 
Spanish Government, in 1820, the grant 
of an extensive tract of land; but before 
he could put his plans in execution he 
died. His son, Stephen F. Austin, in- 
herited the rights of his father under 
this grant, and went to Texas with a 
number of emigrants from this country, 
and explored that region for the pur- 
pose of locating his grant. 

He selected as the most desirable site 
for his colony the country between the 
Brazos and Colorado rivers, and founded 
a city, which he named Austin, in honor 
of the originator of the colony, to whom 
Texas owes its existence as an Ameri- 
can commonwealth. Havinof seen the 
settlers established in their new homes, 
Mr. Austin returned to the United 
States to collect other emigrants for his 
colony. 

During his absence Mexico and the 
oiner Spanish provinces rose in revolt 
against Spain, and succeeded in estab- 
lishing their independence. Texas, 
being regarded as a part of the Mexican 
territory, shared the fortunes of that 
country. Upon his return to Texas, 
Austin, in consideration of the altered 
state of affairs, went to the city of Mex- 



ico, and obtained from the Mexican 
government a confirmation of the grant 
made to his father. Such a confirma- 
tion was necessary in order to enable 
him to give the settlers valid titles to 
the lands of his colony. 

Mexico at first exercised but a nomi- 
nal authority over the new settlements, 
and the colonists were allowed to live 
under their own laws, subject to the 
rules drawn up by Austin. In order to 
encourage settlements in Texas, the 
Mexican Congress, on the second of 
May, 1824, enacted the following law, 
declaring, "That Texas is to be an- 
nexed to the Mexican province of Coha- 
huila, until it is of suflficient importance 
to form a separate State, when it is to 
become an independent State of the 
Mexican republic, equal to the other 
States of which the same is composed, 
free, sovereign, and independent in 
whatever exclusively relates to its 
internal government and administra- 
tion." 

Flood of Immigration. 

Encouraged by this decree, large 
numbers of Americans emigrated to 
Texas, and to these were added emi- 
grants from all the countries of Europe. 
The population grew rapidly, new 
towns sprang up, and Austin's colony 
prospered in a marked degree, until 
1830, when Bustamente having made 
himself, by violence and intrigue, pres- 
ident of the so-called Mexican republic, 
prohibited the emigration of foreigners 
to the Mexican territory, and issued a 
number of decrees ver>^ oppressive to 

61 



52 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



tlie people, and in violation of the con- 
stitution of 1824. 

In order to enforce these measures in 
Texas, he occupied that province with 
his troops, and placed Texas under mil- 
itary rule. The Texans resented this 
interference with their rights, and finally 
compelled the Mexican troops to with- 
draw from the province. In 1832, an- 
other revolution in Mexico drove Bus- 
tamente from power, and placed Santa 
Anna at the head of affairs as presi- 
dent or dictator 

Arrested and Imprisoned. 

Texas took no part in the disturb- 
ances of Mexico, but after the accession 
of Santa Anna to power, formed a con- 
stitution, and applied for admission into 
the Mexican republic as a State, in ac- 
cordance with the constitution of 1824, 
and the act of the Mexican Congress 
which we have quoted. Stephen F. 
Austin was sent to the city of IMexico 
to present the petition of Texas for this 
purpose. He was refused an answer to 
this petition for over a year, and at last 
wrote to the authorities of Tescas, advis- 
ing them to organize a State govern- 
ment without waiting for the action of 
the Mexican Congress. 

For this recommendation, which the 
Mexican government regarded as trea- 
sonable, Santa Anna caused the arrest 
of Austin, and kept him in prison 
for over a year. Texas now began 
to manifest the most determined opposi- 
tion to the usurpation of Santa Anna, 
and measures were taken to maintain 
the rights of the province under the con- 
stitution of 1824. Troops were organ- 
ized, and preparations made to resist the 
force which it was certain Mexico would 
send against them. 



Santa Anna did not allow them to re- 
main long in suspense, but at once dis- 
patched a force under General Cos, to 
disarm the Texans. On the second of 
October, 1835, Cos attacked the town of 
Gonzalez, which was held by a Texan 
force, but was repulsed with heavy loss. 
A week later, on the ninth of October, 
the Texans captured the town of Goliad, 
and a little later gained possession of 
the mission house of the Alamo. Both 
places were garrisoned, and the Texan 
army, which was under the command 
of Austin, in the course of a few 
months succeeded in driving the Mexi- 
cans out of Texas. 

State Government. 

On the twelfth of November, 1835, a 
convention of the people of Texas met 
at the city of Austin, and organized a 
regular State government. Prominent 
among the members was General Sam 
Houston, a settler from the United 
States. Soon after the meeting of the 
convention General Austin resigned the 
command of the army, and was sent to 
the United States as the commissioner 
of that State to this government, and 
was succeeded as commander-in-chief 
by General Sam Houston. Henry Smith 
was elected governor of Texas by the 
people. 

As soon as Santa Anna learned that 
his troops had been driven out of Texas, 
and that the Texans had set up a State 
government, he set out for that country 
with an army of seventy-five hundred 
men. He issued orders to his troops to 
shoot every prisoner taken, and intended 
to make the struggle a war of extermina- 
tion. He arrived before the Alamo late 
in February, 1836. This fort was very 
strong, and was held by a force of one 







SCENES IN MEXICO. 



53 



54 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



hundred and forty Texans under Colonel 
Travis. It was besieged by the whole 
Mexican army, and was subjected to a 
bombardment of eleven days. 

Davy Crockett. 

At last, on the sixth of March, the 
garrison being worn out with fatigue, 
the fort was carried by assault, and the 
whole garrison was put to the sword. 
Among the heroes who fell at the Texan 
Thermopylae was the eccentric but chiv- 
alrous Colonel Davy Crockett, of Ten- 
nessee, who had generously come to aid 
the Texans in their struggle for liberty. 
The capture of the Alamo cost the Mexi- 
cans a loss of sixteen hundred men, or 
over eleven men for every one of its 
defenders. 

On the 17th of March, 1836, the con- 
vention adopted a constitution for an 
independent republic, and formally pro- 
claimed the independence of Texas. 
David G. Burnett was elected president 
of the republic. 

The fort at Goliad was held by a force 
of three hundred and thirty Texans, 
under Colonel Fanning, a native of 
Georgia. On the twenty-seventh of 
March it was attacked by the Mexican 
army. The garrison maintained a gal- 
lant defence, but their resources being 
exhausted, and the Mexicans being re- 
inforced during the night. Fanning de- 
cided to surrender his force, if he could 
obtain honorable terms. He proposed 
;:o Santa Anna to lay down his arms and 
surrender the post on condition that he 
and his men should be allowed and as- 
sisted to return to the United States. 
The proposition was accepted by Santa 
Anna, and the terms of the surrender 
were formally drawn up and were signed 
by each commander. As soon as the 



surrender was made, however, and the 
arms of the Texans were delivered, 
Santa Anna, in base violation of his 
pledge, caused Fanning and the survi- 
vors of the garrison, to the number of 
three hundred men, to be put to death 
The massacres of the Alamo and Go- 
liad, and the steady advance of the Mex- 
ican army under Santa Anna caused a 
feeling of profound alarm throughout 
the new republic. The government 
was removed temporarily to Galveston, 
and General Houston retreated behind 
the San Jacinto. Santa Anna pursued 
the Texan forces, and at length came up 
with them on the banks of that stream. 
Houston had but seven hundred and 
fifty men with him, and these were im- 
perfectly armed and without discipline. 

Mexican Army Routed. 

With this force he surprised the Mexi- 
can camp, on the 21st of April, and 
routed the Mexican army, inflicting upon 
it a loss of over six hundred killed, and 
taking more than eight hundred priso- 
ners. Santa Anna himself was among 
the prisoners. Houston at once entered 
into negotiations with him for the with- 
drawal of the Mexican forces from 
Texas. This was done at once, and the 
independence of Texas was achieved. 
Santa Anna also recognized the inde- 
pendence of the new republic, but the 
Mexican Congress refused to confirrL 
this act. 

Houston was now the idol of the 
Texan people as the deliverer of their 
country from the hated Mexicans. At 
the next general election he was chosen 
President as the republic, and was inau- 
gurated on the twenty-second of Octo- 
ber, 1836. General Mirabeau B. Lamar 
was the third President of the republic 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



55 



of Texas, and entered upon his office in 
1838. He was succeeded in 1844 by 
Anson Jones, the fourth President. 

The territory of the republic was suffi- 
ciently large to make five States the size 
of New York, and its climate and soil 
were among the most delightful and 
fertile in the world. It contained a popu- 
lation of about two hundred thousand, 
and was increasing rapidly in inhabi- 
tants and in prosperity. 

Texas a Republic. 

On the third of March, 1837, the in- 
dependence of the republic of Texas 
was acknowledged by the United States, 
and in 1839 by France and England. 
Being young and feeble, and being set- 
tled almost entirely by Americans, the 
people of Texas at an early day came to 
the conclusion that their best interests 
required them to seek a union with the 
United States, and as early as August, 
1837, a proposition was submitted to 
Mr. Van Buren looking to such a union. 
It was declined by him, but the question 
was taken up by the press and people 
of the Union, and was discussed with 
the greatest interest and activity. 

The South was imanimously in favor 
of the annexation of Texas, as it was a 
region in wdiich slave labor would be 
particularly profitable ; and a strong 
party in the North opposed the annexa- 
tion for the reason that it would inevi- 
tably extend the area of slavery. An 
additional argument against annexation 
was that it would involve a war with 
Mexico, which had never acknowledged 
the independence of Texas. 

In April, 1844, Texas formally ap- 
plied for admission into the United 
States, and a treaty for that purpose was 
negotiated with her by the government 



of this country. It was rejected by the 
Senate. 

In the fall of 1844 the Presidential 
election took place. The leading po- 
litical qnestion of the day was the an- 
nexation of Texas. It was advocated 
by the administration of President Tyler 
and by the Democratic party. This 
party also made the claim of the United 
States to Oregon one of the leading 
issues of the campaign. Its candidates 
were James K. Polk, of Tennessee, and 
George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania. 
The Whig party supported Henry Clay, 
of Kentucky, and Theodore Freling- 
huysen, of New Jersey, and opposed the 
annexation of Texas. 

During this campaign, which was one 
of unusual excitement, the Anti-slaveiy 
party made its appearance for the first 
time as a distinct political organization, 
and nominated James G. Birney as its 
candidate for the Presidency. 

Democrats in Power. 

The result of the campaign was a de- 
cisive victory for the Democrats. This 
success was generally regarded as an em- 
phatic expression of the popular will 
representing the Texas and Oregon 
questions. Mr. Birney did not receive 
a single electoral vote, and of the popu- 
lar vote only sixty-four thousand six 
hundred and fifty-three ballots were 
cast for him. 

When Congress met in December, 
1844, the efforts for the annexation of 
Texas were renewed. A proposition 
was made to receive Texas into the 
Union by a joint resolution of Congress. 
A bill for this purpose passed the House 
of Representatives, but the Senate ad- 
ded an amendment appointing commis- 
sioners to negotiate with Mexico foi 



66 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



the annexation of Texas, which she 
still claimed as a part of her territory. 
The President was authorized by a 
clause in these resolutions to adopt either 
the House or the Senate plan of annexa- 
tion, and on the second of March, 1845, 
the resolutions were adopted. 
^ Senator Benton, of Missouri, the au- 
thor of the Senate plan, was of the opin- 
ion that the matter would be left to 
Mr. Polk, the President-elect, to be con- 
ducted by him; and that gentleman had 
expressed his intention to carry out the 
Senate plan, as he hoped an amicable 
arrangement could be made with Mex- 
ico. Mr. Tyler, however, determined 
not to leave the annexation of Texas to 
his successor, and at once adopted the 
plan proposed in the House resolutions, 
and on the night of Sunday, March 3d, 
a messenger was despatched with all 
speed to Texas to lay the proposition 
before the authorities of that State. It 
was accepted by them, and on the fourth 
of July, 1845, Texas became one of the 
United States. 

Large Territory Added. 

The area thus added to the territory of 
the Union comprised two hundred and 
thirty-seven thousand five hundred and 
four square miles. It was provided by 
the act of admission that four additional 
States might be formed out of the terri- 
tory of Texas, when the population 
should increase to an extent which 
should make such a step desirable. 
,Those States lying north of the Mis- 
•souri Compromise line — 36° 30' north 
latitude — were to be free States, those 
south of that line were to be free or 
slave-holding "as the people of each 
State asking admission may desire." 
To Texas was reserved the right to re- 



fuse to allow the division of her terri- 
tory. 

Mexico had never acknowledged the 
independence of Texas, and since the 
defeat at San Jacinto had repeatedly 
threatened to restore her authority over 
the Texans by force of arms. She 
warmly resented the annexation of 
Texas by the United States, and a few 
days after that event was completed. 
General Almonte, the Mexican minis- 
ter at Washington, entered a formal 
protest against the course of the United 
States, demanded his passports, and left 
the country. 

Redress for Outrages. 

Some years before this, a number of 
American ships trading with Mexican 
ports had been seized and plundered by 
the Mexican authorities, who also con- 
fiscated the property of a number of 
American residents in that country. 
The suflferers by these outrages appealed 
for redress to the government of the 
United States, which had repeatedly 
tried to negotiate with Mexico for 
the collection of these claims, which 
amounted to six millions of dollars. 
Mexico made several promises of settle- 
ment, but failed to comply with them. 
In 1840, however, a new treaty was 
made between that country and the 
United States, and Mexico pledged her- 
self to pay the American claims in 
twenty annual instalments of three 
hundred thousand dollars each. Three 
of these instalments had Been paid at 
the time of the annexation of Texas; 
but Mexico now refused to make any 
further payment. 

Mexico claimed that the limits of 
Texas properly ended at the Neuces 
river, while the Texans insisted that 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



57 



their boundary was the Rio Grande. 
Thus the region between these two 
rivers became a debatable land, claimed 
by bolh parties, and a source of great 
and innnediate danger. It was evident 
that Mexico was about to occupy this 
region with her troops, and the legisla- 
ture of Texas, alarmed by the threaten- 
ing attitude of that country, called upon 
the United States government to pro- 
tect its territory. The President at 
once sent General Zachary Taylor with 
a force of fifteen hundred regular troops, 
called the "army of occupation," to 
"take position in the country between 
the Neuces and the Rio Grande, and 
to repel any invasion of the Texan 
territory." 

In Battle Array. 

General Taylor accordingly took po- 
sition at Corpus Christi, at the mouth 
of the Neuces, in September, 1845, and 
remained there until the spring of 1 846. 
At the same time a squadon of war ves- 
sels under Commodore Connor was des- 
patched to the Gulf to co-operate with 
General Taylor. Both of these officers 
" were ordered to commit no act of hos- 
tility against Mexico unless she declared 
war, or was herself the aggressor by 
striking the first blow.' ' 

At the commencement of the dispute 
between the two countries, Herrera was 
President of Mexico. Although diplo- 
matic communications had ceased be- 
tween the United States and Mexico, 
he was anxious to settle the quarrel by 
negotiation, but at the Presidential elec- 
tion held about this time Herrera was 
defeated, and Paredes, who was bitterly 
hostile to the United States, was cho- 
sen President of tlie Mexican republic. 
Paredes openly avowed his determina- 



tion to drive the Americans beyond the 
Neuces. 

In February, 1846, General Taylor 
was ordered by President Polk to ad- 
vance from the Neuces to a point on the 
Rio Grande, opposite the Mexican town 
of Matamoras, and establish there a for- 
tified post, in order to check the Mexi- 
can forces which were assembling there 
in large numbers for the purpose of 
invading Taxas. Taylor at once set 
out, and leaving the greater part of his 
stores at Point Isabel, on the Gulf, ad- 
vanced to the Rio Grande, and built a 
fort and established a camp opposite 
and within cannon shot of Matamoras. 
General Ampudia, commanding the 
Mexican forces at Matamoras, imme- 
diately notified General Taylor that this 
was an act of war upon Mexican soil, 
and demanded that he should "break 
up his camp and retire beyond the 
Neuces" within twenty-four hours. 

First Blood Shed. 

Taylor replied that he was acting in 
accordance with the orders of his gov- 
ernment, which was alone responsible 
3r his conduct, and that he should 
maintain the position he had chosen. 
He pushed forward the work on his 
fortifications with energy, and kept a 
close watch upon the Mexicans. Neithei 
commander was willing to take the re- 
sponsibility of beginning the war, and 
Ampudia, notwithstanding his threat, 
remained inactive. His course did not 
satify his government, and he was re- 
moved and General Arista appointed in 
his place. Arista at once began hostili- 
ties by interposing detachments of his 
army between Taylor's force and his 
depot of supplies at Point Isabel. On 
the twenty-sixth of April Taylor sent 



58 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



a party of sixty dragoons under Captain 
Thornton to reconnoitre the Mexican 
lines. The dragoons were surprised 
with a loss of sixteen killed. The re- 
mainder were made prisoners, and 
Thornton alone escaped. This was the 
first blood shed in the war with Mexico, 
the beginning of the struggle. 

A day or two later, being informed 
by Captain Walker, who, with his Texan 
Rangers, was guarding the line of com- 
munication with Point Isabel, that the 
Mexicans were threatening the latter 
place in heavy force. General Taylor 
left Major Brown with three hundred 
men to hold the fort, and marched to 
Point Isabel to relieve that place. He 
agreed with Major Brown that if the 
fort should be attacked or hard pressed, 
the latter should notify him of his dan- 
ger by firing heaving signal guns at 
certain intervals. He reached Point 
Isabel, twenty miles distant, on the 
second of May without meeting any 
opposition on the march. 

Signal Guns Fired. 

General Arista, attributing Taylor's 
withdrawal to fear, determined to cap- 
ture the fortification on the opposite 
side of the river. On the third of May 
he opened fire upon it from a heavy 
battery at Matamoras, and sent a large 
force across the Rio Grande, which took 
position in the rear of the fort and in- 
trenched themselves there. In the face 
of this double attack the little garrions 
defended themselves bravely, but at 
length Major Brown fell mortally 
wounded. The command devolved 
upon Captain Hawkins, who now felt 
himself justified in warning Taylor of 
his danger, and began to fire the signal 
guns agreed upon, 



Taylor was joined at Point Isabel 
by a small detachment, and his force 
was increased to twent}-three hundred 
men. He listened anxiously for the 
booming of the signal guns from the 
fort on the Rio Grande, and at length 
they were heard. He knew that the 
need of assistance must be great, as the 
little band in the fort had held out so 
long without calling for help, and he 
at once set out to join them. He left 
Point Isabel on the seventh of May, tak- 
ing with him a heavy supply train. The 
steady firing of the signal guns from 
Fort Brown (for so the work was after- 
wards named in honor of its gallant 
commander) urged the army to its 
greatest exertions. 

Battle of Palo Alto. 

On the 8th of May the Mexican army, 
six thousand strong, was discovered 
holding a strong position in front of a 
chaparral, near the small stream called 
the Palo Alto, intending to dispute the 
advance of the Americans. Taylor 
promptly made his dispositions to attack 
them. His troops were ordered to drink 
from the little stream and to fill their 
canteens. The train was closed up, and 
the line was formed with Major Ring- 
gold's light battery on the right, Dun- 
can's battery on the left, and a battery 
of eighteen-pounders in the center. 

The artillery was thrown well in 
front of the infantry, and the order was 
given to advance. The Mexicans at 
once opened fire with their batteries, 
but the distance was too great to ac- 
complish anything. The American bat- 
teries did not reply until they had gotten 
within easy range, when they opened a 
fire the accuracy and rapidity of which 
astonished the Mexicans. 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



59 



Their lines were broken and they fell 
back, and the Americans advanced 
steadily through the chaparral, which 
had been set on fire by the discharge of 
cannon, until a new position within 
close range was reached. Paying no 
attention to the Mexican artillery, the 
American guns directed their fire upon 
the enemy's infantry and cavalry, and 
broke them again and again. The battle 
lasted five hours and ceased at nightfall. 
It was fought entirely by the artillery 
of the two armies, and was won by the 
superior handling and precis'' : of the 
American guns. 

Flying Artillery. 

The I0.SS of the Mexicans was four 
hundred killed and wounded ; that of 
the Americans nine killed and forty- four 
wounded. Early in the battle Major 
Ringgold was mortally wounded and 
died a little later. He was regarded as 
one of the most gifted officers of the 
army, and to him was chiefly due the 
precision and rapidity of movement ac- 
quired by the " flying artillery " of the 
American army, which were so success- 
fully tested during this war. 

The American army encamped on the 
battle-field, and the next morning. May 
9th, as the Mexicans had retreated, leav- 
ing their dead unburied, resumed its 
advance. In the afternoon the Mexi- 
cans were discovered occupying a much 
stronger position than they had held at 
Palo Alto. Their line was formed* be- 
hind a ravine, called Resaca de la Palma, 
or the Dry River of Palms. Their 
flanks were protected by the thick cha- 
parral, and their artillery was thrown 
forward beyond the ravine and protected 
by an intrenchment, and swept the road 
b\' which the Americans must advance. 



During the night fresh troops had 
joined the Mexican army, and had in- 
creased their force to seven thousand 
men. 

Taylor formed his line with the artil- 
lery in the center. The artillery was 
ordered to advance along the road com- 
manded by the Mexican battery, and 
the infantry were directed to move as 
rapidly as possible through the chapar- 
ral, and drive out the Mexican sharp- 
shooters. The infantry executed this 
order in handsome style, but the chapar- 
ral was so dense that each man was 
obliged to act for himself as he forced 
his way through it. The Mexican bat- 
tery was handled with great skill and 
coolness, and held the center in check 
until some time after the infantry had 
forced their way close to the edge of 
the ravine. 

Charge of the Gallant May. 

At this juncture Captain May was 
ordered to charge the Mexican guns, 
and started down the road at a trot. As 
he reached the position of the American 
artillery, Lieutenant Ridgely suggested 
that May should halt and allow him to 
draw the Mexican fire. Ridgely opened 
a rapid fire on the Mexican guns, which 
was answered immediately. At the same 
moment May dashed at the Mexican 
battery with his dragoons, and reached 
it before the cannoneers could reload 
their pieces. They were sabred at their 
guns, and the battery was carried. Cap- 
tain ]\Iay himself made a prisoner of 
General LaVega, as the latter was in 
the act of discharging one of the guns. 

Leaving the battery to the American 
infantry which now hurried forward to 
secure it, the dragoons charged the 
Mexicau centre and broke it. The whole 



60 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



American Hue then advanced rapidly ; 
the Mexicans gave way, and were soon 
flying in utter confusion towards the 
Rio Grande, which they crossed in such 
haste that many of them were drowned 
in the attempt to reach the Mexican 
shore. 

General Arista, the Mexican com- 
mander, fled alone from the field, leav- 
ing all his private and official papers 
behind him. The Americans lost one 
Imndre'd and twenty-two men killed and 
wounded; the Mexicans twelve hun- 
dred. All the Mexican artillery, two 
thousand stand of arms, and six hun- 
dred mules were captured by the Amer- 
icans. 

Americans Advance. 

General Taylor advanced from the 
battlefield to Fort Brown, the garrison 
of which had heard the distant roar of 
the battle, and had seen the flight of 
the Mexican across the Rio Grande. 

General Taylor was delayed at Mata- 
moras for three months by the weak- 
ness of his force ; but, as soon as rein- 
forcements reached him, he prepared to 
advance into the interior. His first 
movement was directed against the city 
of Monterey, the capital of the State of 
New Leon, where the Mexicans had 
collected an army. His army numbered 
about nine thousand men of all arms, and 
of these a little over twenty-three hun- 
dred men were detached for garrisons, 
leaving an active force of six thousand 
six hundred and seventy men. On the 
twentieth of August General Worth's 
division marched from Matamoras, and 
a fortnight later General Taylor set out 
from the Rio Grande with the main 
army. On the ninth of September the 
American forces encamped within three 
miles of Monterey, 



Every means of defence had been ex- 
hausted by the Mexicans. Forty-two 
heavy cannon were mounted on the city 
walls, the streets were barricaded, and 
the flat roofs and stone walls of the 
houses were arranged lor infantry. Each 
house was a separate fortress. A strongly 
fortified building of heavy stone, calleG 
the Bishop's palace, stood on the side of 
a hill without the city walls, and on 
the opposite side of the city were re- 
doubts held by infantry and artillery. 

On the morning of the twenty-first 
of September the American artillery 
opened fire on Monterey, and the in- 
fantry advanced to carry the Mexican 
works. The brigade of General Quit- 
man carried a strong work in the lower 
part of the town, and at the same time 
General Butler, with a part of his 
division, forced his way into the town 
on the right. 

At the Citadel. 

During the night of the twenty-first 
the Mexicans evacuated the lower part 
of the city, but kept their hold upon 
the citadel and the upper town, from 
which they maintained a vigorous fire 
upon the American positions. At day- 
break, on the twenty-second, Worth's 
division, advancing in the midst of a 
fog and rain, carried the crest com- 
manding the Bishop's palace, and by 
noon had captured the palace itself. The 
guns of the captured works were now 
directed upon the enemy in the city 
below. 

The enemy had fortified the city so 
thoroughly that the Americans were 
not only forced to carry the various 
barricades in succession, but were com- 
pelled to break through the walls of the 
fortified houses, and advance from house 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



61 



to house in this way. One or two field 
pieces were drawn up to the flat roofs, 
and the Mexicans were driven from 
point to point during the twenty- 
second and twenty-third, until they 
were confined to the citaded and plaza. 
On the night of the twenty-third General 
Ampudia opened negotiations, and on 
the morning of the twenty-fourth surren- 
dered the town and garrison to General 



fierce charge than in volunteering to 
make a dangerous ride under fire, in 
search of ammunition. 

The next important engagement oc- 
curred at Buena Vista, a village of 
Mexico, seven miles south of Saltillo, 
whereon February 226. and 23d, 1847, 
five thousand United States troops un- 
der General Taylor defeated twenty 
thousand Mexicans under Santa Anna. 







LIEUT. ULYSSES S. GRANT GOING FOR AMMUNITION AT MONTEREY. 



Taylor. The Americans lost four hun- 
dred and eighty-eight men, killed and 
wounded, in the storming of Monterey. 
The Mexican loss was much greater. 

General Grant, then an unknown 
young lieutenant, was in the battle of 
Monterey, and distinguished himself on 
account of "gallant and meritorious 
services." Several times during the 
battle he demonstrated his superior 
judgment and courage, not more in the 



The American loss in this battle was 
two hundred and sixty -seven killed and 
four hundred and fifty-six wounded. 
That of the Mexicans was over two 
thousand killed and wounded, includ- 
ing many officers of high rank. Taylor 
followed the Mexican army on the 
twenty- fourth, as far as Agua Nueva, 
and collecting their wounded, removed 
them to Saltillo, where they were at- 
tended by the American surgeons. 



62 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



The victory of Buena Vista was de- 
cisive of the war. It saved the valley 
of the Rio Grande from invasion by 
a victorious Mexican army, and enabled 
the expedition of General Scott against 
Vera Cruz to proceed without delay to 
the accomplishment of its objects. It 
also greatly disheartened the Mexican 
people, and during the remainder of the 
year Taylor's army had nothing to do 
but to hold the country it occupied. 

Scott's Expedition. 

The expedition under General Scott 
sailed from New Orleans late in No- 
vember, 1846, and rendezvoused at the 
island of lyobos, about one hundred 
and twenty-five miles north of Vera 
Cruz. The plan of operations for this 
army was very simple — to capture Vera 
Cruz and march to the city of Mexico 
by the most direct route. At length 
everything being in readiness, the ex- 
pedition sailed from Lobos Island, and 
on the morning of the ninth of March, 
1 847, the army, thirteen thousand strong, 
landed without opposition at a point 
selected by General Scott and Commo- 
dore Connor a few days before. The 
city and vicinity had been thoroughly 
reconnoitered, and the troops were at 
once marched to the positions assigned 
them by the commander-in-chief. 

Vera Cruz is the principal seaport of 
Mexico, and contained at the time of 
the siege about fifteen thousand inhabi- 
tants. It was strongly fortified on the 
land side, and towards the Gulf was de- 
^fended by the Castle of San Juan de 
Ulloa, the strongest fortress in America, 
with the exception of Quebec. 

On the tentb of March the invest- 
ment of the city was begun by General 
Worth, and the American lines were 



definitely established around the city 
for a distance of six miles. During the 
day, and for several days thereafter, 
bodies of Mexicans attempted to harass 
the besiegers, and a steady fire was 
maintained upon them by the guns of 
the castle and the city as they worked 
at their batteries. The American works 
being completed, and their guns in 
position. General Scctt summoned the 
city of Vera Cruz to surrender, stipula- 
ting that no batteries should be placed 
in the city to attack the castle unless 
the city should be fired upon by that 
work. 

The demand was refused by General 
Morales, who commanded both the 
city and the castle, and at 4 o'clock on 
the afternoon of the twenty-second of 
March, the American batteries opened 
fire upon the town. The bombardment 
was continued for five days, and the 
fleet joined in the attack upon the cas- 
tle. The city suffered terribly ; a num- 
ber of the inhabitants were killed, and 
many buildings were set on fire by 
the shells. 

A Decisive Victory. 

On the twenty-seventh the cit)' and 
castle surrendered, and were promptly 
occupied by the Americans. Over five 
thousand prisoners and five hundred 
pieces of artillery fell into the hands of 
the victors. The garrison were required 
to march out, lay down their arms, and 
were then dismissed upon their parole. 
The inhabitants were protected in their 
civil and religious rights. The sur- 
render was completed on the morning 
of the twenty-ninth. 

Having secured the city and the cas- 
tle, General Scott placed a strong gar- 
rison in each, and appointed General 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



G.3 



Worth governor of Vera Cruz. He 
then prepared to march upon the city 
of IMexico, and on the eighth of x\pril 
the advance division, under General 
Twiggs, set out from Vera Cruz towards 
Jalapa. Deducting the force left to 
garrison Vera Cruz, Scott's whole army 
amounted to but eighty-five hundred 
men. 

Makes a Stand at Oerro Gordo. 

Santa Anna had not found the conse- 
quences to himself of the battle of Buena 
Vista as bad as he had expected. He 
had succeeded in pursuading his coun- 
trymen that he had not been defeated in 
that battle, but had simply retreated for 
want of provisions, and they had agreed 
to give him another trial. He had 
pledged himself to prevent the advance 
of the Americans to the capital, in the 
event of the fall of Vera Cruz, and with 
the aid of those of his countrymen who 
were willing to sitpport him had quelled 
an insurrection at the capital, and had 
strengthened his power to a greater de- 
gree than ever. With a force of twelve 
thousand men he had taken position at 
Cerro Gordo, a mountain pass at the 
eastern edge of the Cordilleras, to hold 
the American army in check, and had 
fortified his position with great skill 
and care. 

General Twiggs halted before the 
Mexican position to await the arrival 
of General Scott, who soon joined him 
with the main army. The Mexican 
lines were carefully reconnoitered, and 
on the eighteenth of April General 
Scott, avoiding a direct attack, turned 
the enemy's left, seized the heights com- 
manding their position, and drove them 
from their works with a loss of three 
thousand prisoners and forty-three pieces 



of artillery. Santa Anna mounted a 
mule, taken from his carriage, and fled 
leaving the carriage and his private pa- 
pers in the hands of the Americans. 
Besides their prisoners, the Mexicans 
lost over one thousand men in killed 
and wounded. Scott's loss was four 
hundred and thirty-one killed and 
wounded. 

The passes on the direct road to the 
city had been well fortified and garri- 
soned by the Mexicans, but the country 
upon the flanks had been left unpro- 
tected, because Santa Anna deemed it 
utterly impossible for any troops to pass 
over it, and turn his position. El Penon 
the most formidable of these defences, 
was reconnoitered by the engineers, 
who reported that it would cost at 
least three thousand lives to carry it. 
Scott thereupon determined to turn Bl 
Penon, instead of attacking it. The 
city and its defences were carefully rec- 
onnoitered, and it was discovered that 
the works on the south and west were 
weaker than those at any other points, 

Americans Push Forward. 

General Scott now moved to the left, 
passed El Penon on the south, and by 
the aid of a corps of skillful engineers 
moved his army across ravines and 
chasms which the Mexican commander 
had pronouiiced impassable, and had 
left unguarded. General Twiggs led 
the advance, and halted and encamped 
at Chalco, on the lake of the same name. 
Worth followed, and passing Twiggs, 
encamped at the town of San Augustin, 
eight miles from the capital. 

As soon as Santa Anna found that 
the Americans had turned El Penon, 
and had advanced to the south side of 
the city, he left that fortress and took 



64 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



position in the strong fort of San An- 
tonio, which lay directly in front of 
Worth's new position. Northwest of 
San Antonio, and four miles from the 
city, lay the little village of Churubusco, 
which had been strongly fortified by the 
Mexicans. A little to the west of San 
Augustin was the fortified camp of 
Contreras, with a garrison of about six 
thousand men. 

In the rear, between the camp and 
the city, was a reserve force of twelve 
thousand men. The whole number of 
Mexicans manning these defences was 
about thirty-five thousand, with at least 
one hundred pieces of artillery of va- 
rious sizes. 

Desperate Struggle. 

General Scott lost no time in moving 
against the enemy's works. General 
Persifer F. Smith was ordered to attack 
the entrenched camp at Contreras, while 
Shields and Pierce should move between 
the Camp and Santa Anna at San An- 
tonio, and prevent him from going to 
the assistance of the force at Contreras. 

At three o'clock on the morning of 
August 20th, in the midst of a cold rain, 
Smith began his march, his men hold- 
ing on to each other, to avoid being- 
separated in the darkness. He made 
his attack at sunrise, and in fifteen min- 
utes had possession of the camp. He 
took three thousand prisoners and thir- 
ty-three pieces of cannon. 

The camp at Contreras having fallen, 
General Scott attacked the fortified vil- 
lage of Churubusco an hour or two 
later, and carried it after a desperate 
struggle of several hours. General 
Worth's division stormed and carried 
the strong fort of San Antonio, and 
General Twiggs captured another im- 



portant work. The Mexicans outnum- 
bered their assailants three to one, and 
fought bravely. Their efforts were in 
vain, however, and late in the after- 
noon they were driven from their de- 
fences, and pursued by the American 
cavalry to the gates of the city. 

How the Victories Were Won. 

These two victories had been won 
over a force of thirty thousand Mex- 
icans by less than ten thousand Amer- 
icans, and a loss of four thousand killed 
and wounded and three thousand prison- 
ers had been inflicted upon the Mexican 
army. The American loss was eleven 
hundred men. 

Santa Anna retreated within the city, 
and on the twenty-first of August the 
American army advanced to within 
three miles of the city of Mexico. On 
the same day Santa Anna sent a flag of 
truce to General Scott, asking for a sus- 
pension of hostilities, in order to ar- 
range the terms of peace. The request 
was granted, and Mr. Trist was de- 
spatched to the city, and began nego- 
tiations with the Mexican commission- 
ers. 

After protracted delays, designed to 
gain time, the Mexican commissioners 
declined the American conditions, and 
proposed others which they knew would 
not be accepted. Thoroughly disgusted, 
Mr. Trist returned to the American 
camp, and brought with him the intelli- 
gence that Santa Anna had violated the 
armistice by using the time accorded 
him by it in strengthening his defences. 
Indignant at such treachery. General 
Scott at once resumed his advance upon 
the city. 

The Mexican capital was still de- 
fended by two powerful works. One of 




Copyright, 1900. by George W. Bertron. 

FAMOUS INVENTORS OF THE CENTURY 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



65 



wounded — nearly one-fourth the whole 
American force engaged. 



these was Molinodel Rey, " The King's 

Mill," a foundry, where it was said the 

church bells were 

being cast into 

cannon; the 

other was the 

strong castle of 

Chapultepec. 

General Scott 
resolved to make 
his first attack 
upon Molino del 
Rey, which was 
held by fourteen 
thousand Mexi- 
cans, It was 
stormed and car- 
ried on the 8th 
of September, 
after a severe con- 
test by Worth's 
division, four 
thousand strong. 
This was regard- 
ed as the hardest- 
won victory of 
the war. The 
Mexicans were 
nearly four times 
as numerous as 
the Americans, 
and their position 
was one of very 
great strength. 
The Americans 
fought principal- 
ly with their ri- 
fles and muskets, 
their artillery be- 
ing of but little 
use to them, ow- 
ing to the nature general SCOTT ENTERING THE CITY OF MEXICO, 
of their position. Their loss was seven [ The castle of Chapultepec stood on a 
hundred and eighty-seven killed and | steep and lofty hill, and could not be 
5 




66 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. 



turned. If won at all, it must be by a 
direct assault. On the twelfth of Sep 
tember the American artillery opened 
fire upon it, and reduced it almost to 
ruins. On the morning of the thirteenth 
a determined assault was made by the 
Americans, and the castle was carried 
after a sharp struggle. 

Santa Anna's Retreat. 

During the night of the thirteenth 
Santa Anna, with the remains of his 
army, retreated from the city, leaving 
the authorities to make the best terms 
they could with the conquerors. The 
city officials presented themselves be- 
fore General Scott before daybreak, and 
proposed terms of capitulation. The 
general replied that the city was already 
in his power, and that he would enter 
it on his own terms. The next day, 
September 14, 1847, the American army 
entered the city of Mexico, occupied 
the grand square, and hoisted the stars 
and stripes over the government build- 
ings. Santa Anna retreated with four 
or five thousand men from the capital 
to the vicinity of Puebla, which was 
besieged by a Mexican force. The city 
contained eighteen hundred sick Amer- 
icans, and was held by a garrison of 
five hundred men under Colonel Childs. 
This little force held out bravely until 
the arrival of a brigade from Vera Cruz, 
under General I,ane, on its way to re- 
inforce General Scott. Lane drove off 
Santa Anna's army, and relieved Puebla 
on the eighth of October. Ten days 
later Santa Anna was reported to be 



collecting another force at Alixo. Lane 
set out immediately for that place, 
reached it by a forced march, and dis- 
persed the Mexicans beyond all hope of 
reunion. 

Immediately after the capture of the 
city of Mexico Santa Anna resigned 
the presidency of the republic in favor 
of Senor Peiia y Pena, president of the 
Supreme Court of Justice, but retained 
his position as commander-in-chief of 
the army. The fall of the city was fol- 
lowed by the inauguration of a new 
government, one of the first acts of 
which was to dismiss Santa Anna from 
the command of the army. He at 
once left the country, and fled to the 
West Indies. 

Return of Peace. 

On the Fourth of July, 1848, Presi- 
Polk issued a proclamation announcing 
the return of peace. By the terms of 
the treaty the Rio Crande wd*s accepted 
by Mexico as the v/estern boundary of 
the United States and of Texas, and 
that republic ceded to the United States 
the provinces of New Mexico and Upper 
California. For this immense territory 
the government of the United States 
agreed to pay to Mexico the sum of fif- 
teen millions of dollars, and to assume 
the debts due by Mexico to citizens of 
the United States, amounting to the 
sum of three and a half millions of 
dollars. The treaty having been rati- 
fied, the American forces were promptly 
withdrawn from Mexico, and the two 
countries resumed friendly relations. 



CHAPTER V. 

The Great Civil War. 



(f) I HE agitation upon the question of 
* I slavery began about the year 
1830, when William lyloyd Gar- 
rison, of Boston, commenced the publi- 
cation of a paper entitled " The Liber- 
ator.'' The great object of this publica- 
tion was to secure the immediate aboli- 
tion of slavery throughout the United 
States. It should be said that there 
were advocates of this measure at the 
beginning of the century, including 
especially the Quakers. 

As the anti-slavery sentiment grew 
in the North the people of the South 
more and more became alarmed, and pre- 
pared to defend the institution which 
they considered essential to their own 
well-being. The result was that the 
two great sections of our country be- 
came in a large measure estranged, and 
the statesmen of both North and South, 
fearing that the disruption of the Union 
would finally follow, exerted them- 
selves to the utmost to prevent such a 
calamity. 

In 1 82 1 Missouri was admitted into 
the Union, but the present limits of the 
State were not established till 1836. Its 
admission was preceded by a long and 
bitter political controversy between the 
representatives of the North and South, 
the former resisting its entrance as a slave 
State. The discussion resulted in the 
famous "Missouri Compromise," a mea- 
sure strongly advocated by Henry Clay, 
under which compact it was agreed 
that slavery should be forever excluded 
from all that part of Louisiana north of 
36° 30' latitude, except Missouri. It 
was not foreseen at the time that this 



measure would have an important bear- 
ing upon the territory of Nebraska, in- 
cluding what is now the State of Kan- 
sas, but such was the case. 

In 1850 California, to which the dis- 
covery of gold had attracted a rush of 
immigrants, was admitted as a non-slave 
State. To pacify the South, the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law was passed, which di- 
rected the Federal authorities to return 
slaves who had escaped to the North, 
and also required citizens wherever the 
slaves were found to aid in their cap- 
ture. The North took great umbrage 
at the enactment of this law, and the 
anti-slavery sentiment grew rapidly. 

Struggle in Kansas. 

In 1854, in defiance of the Missouri 
Compromise, the principle of " squatter 
sovereignty" was applied to the two 
great territories lying north of 36 de- 
grees and as far as 30 degrees — Kansas 
and Nebraska. The spirit of the North 
was fully aroused, and anti-slavery men 
poured into Kansas with the intention 
of making it a free State, as Congress 
had already decided that the question of 
slavery should be left to the inhabitants 
to settle by themselves. The State gov- 
ernment was organized on a non-slave 
basis, though it was not admitted as a 
State until 1861. 

This struggle led to the formation of 
a new party in the North opposed to 
slavery, although such opposition had 
already shaped the policy to a large ex- 
tent of the Whig party. The new party 
adopted as its name that of Jefferson's 
old party — Republican — and grew with 

67 



68 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



marvellous rapidity. In 1856 a Presi- 
dential election was held ; the Demo- 
cratic candidate, Buchanan, was elected 
by a majority of the electoral vote, but 
Fremont, the Republican candidate, had 
a large popular vote. 

About this time du incident occurred 
that greatly inflamed the anti-slavery 
sentiment of the North. In his opinion 
on what was known as the Dred-Scott 
Case, Chief Justice Taney stated, among 
other things, that a slave, or the de- 
scendant of a slave, could not be a citizen 
of the United States, and the Missouri 
Compromise was unconstitutional. 

Party Divided. 

In i860, the Democratic party was 
split in two sections, the southern or 
ultra-slavery Democrats and the north- 
ern or conservative Democrats. The 
southerners demanded recognition by 
the party of the duty of Congress to 
protect slavery ; the northern Demo- 
crats could not possibly agree to this. 
In the face of a divided party, the Re- 
publicans elected their candidate, Abra- 
ham Lincoln, President. The North 
was now much stronger in population 
and wealtli and growing stronger every 
day. If the South remained in the 
Union it would soon be at the mercy 
of the North. The extreme southern 
States determined to secede, hoping no 
doubt that the northwest and California 
would either join them or remain neu- 
tral. But the newer States had been 
largely settled by foreigners, to whom 
the United States had been a star of 
hope for many years, until frugality en- 
abled them to emigrate thither. They 
had no state pride, but were intensely 
loyal to the country which was their 
adopted home. 



The northwest, California, and after 
a struggle, Missouri, Kentucky and 
Maryland, cast in their lot with the 
North and East. About eight or nine 
millions in the South stood against 
twenty or twenty-two millions in the 
North, with the resources of wealth 
and increased production on the side of 
the latter. 

Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated March 
4, 1 86 1. In his address he declared that 
he had neither the right nor the desire 
to interfere with slavery where it already 
existed ; that no State could lawfully go 
out of the Union ; and that he should 
maintain the laws and constitution of 
the United States to the best of his 
ability. The new administration was 
beset with difficulties on every side, and 
the condition of affairs seemed almost 
desperate. Many of those who for years 
had guided the "ship of state," and 
who understood its workings, were now 
foremost in advocating secession. 

Appalling State of Affairs. 

Mr. Lincoln's officers were new to the 
business of the Federal government. 
The treasury, by defalcation, was nearly 
bankrupt. Few troops were within call ; 
and the army had been almost broken 
up by the surrender of detached forces 
in the Confederate States, and the cap- 
ture of munitions of war. The vessels 
of the navy were sailing or at anchor in 
distant waters, and numerous officers of 
both the army and the navy were re- 
signing their commissions on the ground 
that they owed allegiance first to the 
States from which they came. 

Seven States had already revolted, 
and others were ready to swell the num- 
ber upon the first attempt to enforce 
the Federal authority. The public offi- 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



69 



ces were largely occupied by persons 
in sympathy with the secession move- 
ment, and every step taken by the new 
government was known at once to the 
leaders of the Confederacy, and to crown 
all, Mr. Lincoln was beset by a vast 
horde of office-seekers eager to take ad- 
Vantage of the change of administration. 
The President waited a month and 
then notified Governor Pickens, of South 
Carolina, that he should send supplies 
to Fort Sumter at all hazards. This 
announcement precipitated an attack 
upon the fort. Major Anderson was 
first summoned to surrender, but he re- 
fused. At daybreak on the morning of 
April 12, 1 86 1, the Confederacy began 
its open conflict with the United States. 
All the batteries around the fort opened 
fire upon it; the fort replied, and the 
bombardment continued for thirty-six 
hours without loss of life on either side. 
The ammunition of the fort was then 
exhausted, and the works inside were 
on fire. 

The Old Flag Lowered. 

Thereupon the United States flag, for 
the first time in its history, was lowered 
to insurgent citizens, and the garrison 
capitulated. This event aroused the 
North as if from a trance. Until now, 
the mass of the people had refused to 
believe in real danger ; but the first 
shock of arms thoroughly convinced 
them that the South was ready to fight, 
and could not be curbed without war. 
It did more than this. In tjie Northern 
States party distinctions were for a 
(time swept aside ; there was but one 
party worth the name — the party for 
the Union. The Southern States were 
no longer " erring sisters" to be coaxed 
by concessions. The whole North called 



loudly for the full exercise of the Fed- 
eral power to compel the South to obe- 
dience at the point of the bayonet. 

The day after the evacuation of Fort 
Sumter, President Lincoln called for 
75,ooo volunteers for three months, 
April 1 5. The response was so promptly 
made that the first Massachusetts troops 
began their march on the same day, 
and in a surprisingly short time the 
quota was full ; nay, ic could have been 
filled three or four times over, and the 
many who were refused felt a keen dis- 
appointment at not being allowed to 
bear arms in defense of the Union. 

State Sovereignty. 

^ the South, also, the effect of the 
first conflict was correspondingly great. 
To the ignorant masses it did not seem 
possible that any other power could be 
superior to that of their own State; 
while the more intelligent classes had, 
from their childhood, imbibed the doc- 
trine that State sovereignty was tht 
foundation of civil liberty. Hence all 
felt bound to follow the lead of their 
State; and when the President of the 
new Confederacy issued his call for men 
it was answered, as in the North, b}i 
overflowing numbers. 

Those southern States which had 
wavered were now compelled to make 
their choice. When Mr. Lincoln called 
for troops the Governors of Arkansas, 
Virginia, North Carolina and Tennes- 
see refused to obey. North Carolina 
and Arkansas then seceded, and joined 
the Confederacy. In Tennessee and 
Virginia "military leagues" were 
formed with the Confederate States, by 
which Confederate troops were allowed 
to take possession of their territory, and 
by their aid the question of secession 



70 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



was submitted to popular vote. Thus 
the secession of these two States was ac- 
complished in part, but not wholly. 

The people of the Alleghany moun- 
tains were loyal to the Union ; in east- 
ern Tennessee they aided the Federals 
as much as possible ; the opposition to 
secession was so strong in the western 
counties of Virginia that the inhabitants 
refused to obey the convention which 
passed the ordinance ; they chose a leg- 
islature which claimed to be the true 
government, and at last formed a new 
State which was admitted to the Union 
in 1863, under the name of West Vir- 
ginia. Even thus curtailed, Virginia 
was a most important accession to the 
Confederacy ; it increased its military 
strength greatly, and at once became 
the chief battle-ground of the war. 

The Theatre of Conflict. 

The Confederate government was 
moved from Montgomery to Richmond; 
and since Washington was separated 
only by the Potomac from the Confed- 
eracy, it was clear that the great con- 
test would be fought in the country 
which lay between the two capitals. 
Moreover, Virginia was the richest and 
greatest of the slave States, and fur- 
nished the Southern army with its 
ablest leaders, many of whom — such as 
I,ee, Jackson, Johnson, and Ewell — 
were opposed to secession, but thought 
it right to shape their own course by 
that of their State. 

There was a strong anti-union element 
in Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and 
Delaware, and the most momentous re- 
sults — involving, doubtless, the success 
of the Union cause — were involved in 
the action they would now take. Aside 
from Virginia, Missouri was the most 



powerful slave State, and her geograph- 
ical position, with that of Kentucky 
and Maryland, was of incalcuable mili- 
tary importance. Had these three 
States united with the Confederacy it 
might have won the prize for which it 
was contending — independence. 

Missouri, however, did not break 
away, though the issue was for some 
time doubtful with her. Delaware cast 
her lot with the Union. In Maryland 
and Kentucky efforts were made to 
maintain neutrality, but they were soon 
induced to declare in favor of the Fed- 
eral government. Kentucky, however, 
had some of her sons in the Southern 
ranks, among whom was John C. Breck- 
inridofc, a former Vice-President of the 
United States, who became an officer 
in the Confederate army. 

The Federal government was in no 
want of men, but the action of Secre- 
tary Floyd had almost stripped it of 
arms to equip them. Agents were sent 
abroad to purchase guns, private manu- 
factories were worked day and night to 
produce them, and in a short time the 
administration was able to call more 
men into the field. 

Not a Warlike People. 

The Northern people were unmilitary 
in their habits and thoughts. They 
had a militia, but it was poorly organ- 
ized. The Mexican war had drawn 
few volunteers from this section, and 
the United States army was very small 
and imperfectly equipped. The early 
action of the Confederates also had 
weakened it. There was, however, a 
greater population to draw from than 
at the South. There was also a wider 
range of industry to supply the neces- 
sary funds to carry on the war. 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



71 



South Carolina had, on the 14th of 
January, 1861, declared in her legisla- 
ture that any attempt to reinforce Fort 
Sumter would be regarded as a declara- 
tion of war. April nth Governor Pick- 
ens, in a note to Major Robert Ander- 
son, commanding Fort Sumter, ordered 
him to deliver up the fort. Anderson 
answered that he had no power to com- 
ply, and, as already stated, refused. 

The navy-yards of Brooklyn received 
orders to have 
vessels in rea- 
diness to send 
supplies to the 
beleaguered 
Fort Sumter, 
in Charleston 
harbor. Sup- 
plies were sent 
by the Star of 
the West, but 
did not arrive 
in season, the 
vessel having 
retreated from 
the harbor af- 
ter being fired 
upon. These 
were, in real- 
ity, the first FORT SUMTER 
hostile shots from the South on the 
National flag, though the attack on 
Fort Sumter is regarded as the begin- 
ning of the war. 

The attack was conducted by General 
G. T. Beauregard, favorably known in 
connection with the Mexican War, now 
appointed to the chief command of the 
Confederate forces. The assault was 
opened at four o'clock of April 12th, 
when was fired the first gun of the ter- 
rible Civil War which ensued. The 
fort was surrendered ou the afternoon 



of the 13th, after Anderson and his 
brave band of seventy men had fought 
for thirty-six hours, exposed to death 
by shot, shell and conflagration. 

Major Anderson reported that he 
" marched out on the 14th with colors 
flying and drums beating, bringing 
away company and private property, 
and saluting our flag with fifty guns." 
The men carried away the flag they 
had defended. The same day and hour. 




IN THE BEGINNING OE THE WAR. 

four years afterwards, that memorable 
flag was restored, and again waved over 
the shattered remains of Fort Sumter. 

The first blood of the war was shed 
in the streets of Baltimore. Massachu- 
setts and Pennsylvania troops on their 
way to Washington were attacked by 
a Baltimore mob, April 19, 1861, and 
some of the soldiers killed. The popu- 
lace, which sympathized with the South, 
declared that no Northern troops should 
pass through the city. The railroad 
was blocked up, bridges were burned, 



72 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



telegraph wires were cut, and all direct 
communication with the North was 
stopped, until the President sent a mili- 
tary force from Annapolis to occupy 
Baltimore and keep the road open. In 
a short time the active hostility of the 
people was overcome, and the national 
(Capital made secure. 

By July 4th the Confederates had 
pushed their forces as far as Manassas 
Junction, about thirty miles from Wash- 
ington. Their line of defence was al- 
ready marked out, and its length has 
been estimated at eleven thousand miles, 
including the Atlantic and gulf coasts. 
It comprised the left bank of the Poto- 
mac from Fortress Monroe nearly to 
Washington ; from thence it extended 
to Harper's* Ferry, on through the 
mountains of western Virginia and the 
southern part of Kentucky, crossing 
the Mississippi a short distance below 
Cairo. From this point its direction was 
through southern Missouri to the east- 
ern border of Kansas ; then southwest, 
through the Indian territory, and along 
the northern boundary of Texas to the 
Rio Grande. 

Reliance on Cotton. 

The area contained within this in- 
terior line and the sea-coast was about 
800,000 square miles, with a popula- 
tion of over 9,000,000. It comprised, 
also, the territory devoted to the raising 
of cotton, an article necessary to the 
manufacturing interests of the world. 
It was upon this production that the 
South relied largely for aid ; all the 
, munitions of war could be procured in 
exchange for it ; and she believed it 
would be a powerful factor in prevent- 
ing the blockading of her ports. 

In consideration of this fact, and also 



that the Confederate line of sea-coast 
was over three thousand miles in length, 
with but one port of refuge for a block- 
ading fleet about the middle of the line, 
it scarcely seemed possible that a block- 
ade could be maintained with any 
marked degree of success. Neverthe- 
less, the President issued a proclama- 
tion, April 19, 1 861, declaring a block- 
ade of all the southern parts, and the 
Federal government proceeded to pur- 
chase and arm a large number of mer- 
chant vessels. But it could not at once 
bring together a navy powerful enough 
to keep vessels from entering or leaving 
the blockaded ports. The South not 
only sent out vessels laden with cotton 
to the West Indies and to Europe, but 
received in return military supplies of 
all kinds. 

To Destroy Commerce. 

Upon the appearance of Mr. Lincoln's 
blockade proclamation, Mr. Davis issued 
one also, granting letters of marque 
and reprisal to private vessels, against 
the commerce of the United States. 
The governments of Great Britain and 
France now issued proclamations of 
neutrality, thus making the contest be- 
tween the North and the South a civil 
war, according to subsequent decisions 
of the Supreme Court. 

At the meeting of Congress, July 4, 
1 86 1, the Republicans had a majority 
in both branches, the free States and 
border States only being represented. 
The House voted to devote its time 
solely to the business connected with 
the war. It supported the President's 
proclamation closing the Southern ports 
against commerce. Bills were passed 
to define and punish conspiracy against 
the United States, and to confiscate all 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



73 



private property, including slaves, em- 
ployed against the Federal government; 
to authorize a loan; to call out 500,000 
volunteers, and to appropriate money 
for the army and navy. 

During this session occurred the first 
battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. Gen- 
eral Scott had been appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of the Union forces. 
The first military movements were in 
the mountains of western Virginia, and 
the success of the Union army there 
led many people to suppose that in a 
short time the rebellious States would 
be compelled to obedience. Mr. Seward, 
who was Secretary of State, was espec- 
ially cheerful, and promised that the 
war should be over in ninety days. 
The newspapers and people generally 
urged an immediate movement upon 
Richmond. 

First Great Battle. 

Very few had any knowledge of the 
difficulties before them, and General 
Scott, pressed by public opinion, gave 
the order to advance. This resulted in 
the first serious battle of the war. The 
Union forces were defeated, and re- 
treated in a panic upon Washington. 
Both armies were yet so new in military 
training that the Confederates gained 
nothing from their success. 

This disaster opened the eyes of the 
North, and the country settled down 
into a more serious temper. Congress 
was, more than ever, stimulated to in- 
creased energy, and pledged itself to 
vote any amount of money and any 
number of men necessary to maintain 
the Union. Propositions to consider 
negotiations! for peace were constantly 
offered by extreme Democrats, and as 
constantly rejected by large majorities. 



on the ground that negotiation with 
armed rebellion was unconstitutional. 

General Scott, having resigned the 
command of the Northern armies on 
account of his age and infirmity, was 
succeeded by General George B, Mc- 
Clellan, whose successful campaign in 
western Virginia had given him a high 
reputation throughout the army. He 
had a genius for organization, and pos- 
sessed the unbounded confidence of 
the people. He immediately set about 
forming the first great army of the war 
— the Army of the Potomac — at Alex- 
andria, in preparation for a second ad- 
vance. 

Impatience of the North. 

But the advance was delayed much 
too long to suit the impatience of the 
people and the administration ; and as 
the winter 1861-62 passed away with- 
out any forward movement, the expres- 
sions of dissatisfaction became louder 
and more general. The Confederacy 
also spent the summer and autumn of 
1 86 1 in organizing its northern Army 
of Virginia, under General Beauregard. 

In the autumn of 1861 a portion of 
General Stone's command on the Upper 
Potomac was sent on a reconnoissance 
into Virginia, under Colonel Baker, 
and, being attacked by the Confederate 
general, Evans, at Ball's Bluff, was dis- 
astrously defeated. Colonel Baker was 
among the killed. Although Missouri 
had not seceded, a strong party, with 
which the governor was acting, wished 
to carry it over to the Confederacy. A 
Confederate camp near St. Louis was 
broken up by Captain Lyon, of the 
regulars, and the St. Louis arsenal was 
saved to the government. The State 
was afterward invaded by Confederates 



74 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



from Arkansas, who were defeated by 
Lyon (now a general) at Booneville, 
June 17th, and by Sigel at Carthage, 
July 5th. 

A large force of Confederates under 
McCuUough and Price attacked Lyon 
at Wilson's Creek, August loth. Lyon 
was killed, and his command fell back 
toward the center of the State. Price 
with 20,000 men then attacked Lex- 
ington, which was garrisoned by 2,000 
Federal troops under Colonel Mulligan. 
After an heroic defense of three days the 
little garrison was compelled to surren- 
der, September 20th, after their water 
supply had been cut off for forty-eight 
hours. General Fremont was now ap- 
pointed to the command of the western 
department. He drove Price into the 
southwest corner of the State, and waS 
about to give battle when he was super- 
seded by General Kunter, November 
2d. Hunter retreated to St. Louis, 
with Price in pursuit ; but in a fort- 
night Hunter was replaced by Halleck, 
and Price was driven into Arkansas. 

Families Divided. 

"Kentucky, like Missouri, was dis- 
tracted by dissensions among its own 
people, and by armies on both sides. 
General Polk of the Confederate army 
occupied Hickman and Columbus, 
towns on the Mississippi. There was 
also a Confederate force at Belmont, 
Missouri, opposite Columbus. Ulysses 
S. Grant, recently appointed a brigadier- 
general of volunteers, now first came 
into notice. He drove the Confederates 
out of Belmont November 7th, but was 
unable to hold the town because it was 
commanded by the fortifications of 
Columbus. 

From the beginning of the war, the 



Federal government was embarrassed 
by the question of fugitive slaves. Con- 
gress had passed the act confiscating 
slaves employed in service hostile to 
the United States. While General Fre- 
mont was in command of the forces of 
the West, he had issued a proclamation 
declaring the slaves of Missouri Con-* 
federates free men, but this was counter- 
manded by President Lincoln, who did 
not wish to estrange those slave-holders, 
especially in Kentucky, who were still 
loyal to the Union. 

How Slaves Were Treated. 

In Virginia, General Benjamin F. 
Butler had declared that slaves were 
"contraband of war," and, therefore, 
liable to confiscation by military law. 
But as yet the disposition of the North 
was to subdue the South without inter- 
fering with slavery ; and some Union 
commanders restored to their masters 
the slaves who had escaped into the 
Federal lines. 

Formidable expeditions were fitted 
out to recapture Southern harbors. A 
combined land and naval force, under 
General Butler and Commodore String- 
ham reduced and occupied two forts at 
Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina, at the 
entrance to Albemarle and Pamlico 
Sounds, August 29th, and Port Royal 
harbor, near Beaufort, South Carolina, 
was secured through the reduction of 
Forts Walker and Beauregard by the 
fleet under Commodore Dupont, No- 
vember 7, and a land force under Gen- 
eral Thomas W. Sherman. These suc- 
cesses were of great value to the Federal 
government. They not only closed im- 
portant Southern ports, but they furn- 
ished convenient stations for the block- 
ading fleet. 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



75 



The "paper blockade," as it had 
been called, was soon made a very 
effective one along the whole length of 
the Southern coasit from the Potomac 
to the Rio Grande, an achievement 
which by many had been deemed im- 
possible. Still, in spite of the watch- 
fulness of the Federal navy, several 
Confederate men-of-war and privateers 
sailed out of port, and did much dam- 
age to merchant ships. The practice of 
" running the blockade " became a very 
profitable business ; and notwithstand- 
ing the danger of capture, which was 
the case in many instances, the profits 
on a single successful voyage were so 
great that adventurers found they could 
afford to take the risk. 

Seeking Recognition Abroad. 

As has been stated, the South de- 
pended largely upon assistance from 
abroad, and the southern leaders still 
clung to the hope that they could pre- 
vail upon Great Britain and France to 
recognize the independence of the Con- 
federacy. Two commissioners, there- 
fore, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, were 
sent by the Confederate government to 
London and Paris. They ran the block- 
ade, made their way to Havana, and 
then embarked for England in the 
British mail-steamer Trent. 

Some distance out, the Trent was 
overhauled by an American man-of-war 
under Captain Wilkes, the two commis- 
sioners were taken off, November, 1861, 
and carried to Boston harbor, where 
they were imprisoned in Fort Warren. 
This action, which was illegal and un- 
authorized, caused great excitement in 
England, and came very near causing 
a collision between the two countries. 
Lord Palmerston made a peremptory 



demand for the surrender of the prison- 
ers. The American government had 
already disavowed the act of Captain 
Wilkes, which, though it was justified 
by the British claim of the "right of 
search," was contrary to American 
principles. The Confederate envoys 
were therefore promptly released and 
sent to England. 

jast before this occurrence President 
Lincoln requested two confidential 
agents to visit France and England in 
order to help the Federal cause and 
avert the danger of foreign war by their 
influence with the governments and 
with persons of distinction. The per- 
sons selected for this delicate and im- 
portant trust were Archbishop Hughes, 
of New York, and Mr. Thurlow Weed. 
They sailed in November, and rendered 
very valuable service, Mr. Weed in Eng- 
land, and the Archbishop in France. 

War of Vast Magnitude. 

At the beginning of 1862 the war had 
assumed vast proportions. The num- 
ber of men under arms on both sides 
was nearly a million. The Confederates 
held possession of the Mississippi river 
from the Gulf of Mexico to the southern 
boundary of Kentucky, and occupied a 
chain of strong positions extending 
thence through Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky to the southwestern corner of 
Virginia. Between the Alleghanies and 
the Blue Ridge was the fertile Shenan- 
doah Valley, often disputed by both 
armies. 

At the east the Confederates were 
posted in great force between the Poto- 
mac and the Rappahannock. Now that 
Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and 
Missouri had been saved to the Union, 
it was certain that the battle v.'^ould be 




ARREST OF MASON AND ^TJDELI. ON THE BRITISH STEAMER "TRENT" 

76 



THE GREAT CIVIIv WAR. 



77 



fought out in the territory to the south 
of them. The plan of the Federal au- 
thorities was to open the Mississippi 
and penetrate the Confederate line at 
the west, while at the same time 
McClellan attacked Richmond, and a 
land and naval force continued the pro- 
cess of capturing the southern ports on 
the Atlantic coast. 

Simon Cameron, who had been Secre- 
tary of War, resigned January 20, 1862, 
and was succeeded by Edwin M. Stan- 
ton. All the Federal armies were to 
move simultaneously on the 22d of Feb- 
ruary, Washington's birthday, but this 
order could not be strictly carried out. 

Grant in the West. 

The first advance was made in the 
West. General Grant had entered Ken- 
tucky from Illinois, and succeeded in 
securing the mouths of the Tennessee 
and Cumberland rivers, two streams 
which were to serve as military high- 
ways by which the Federal armies were 
to penetrate into the heart of the Con- 
federacy. The chief Confederate posi- 
tions between the Mississippi river and 
the Alleghany mountains were Fort 
* Henry on the Tennessee, Fort Donel- 
son on the Cumberland (both in Ten- 
nessee), and Bowling Green and Mill 
Spring in Southern Kentucky. This 
iine of defence was in command of 
General Sydney Johnston, with head- 
quarters at Bowling Green, Here he 
was confronted by General Buell's 
army, the middle one of the three great 
Federal armies, which came to be known 
as the Army of the Cumberland. 

Forts Henry and Donelson formed the 
centre of the Confederate line, and was 
confronted by Grant, whose troops after- 
wards formed the army of the Tennes- 



see. In January, 1862, General Thomas 
with the left of Buell's force thoroughly 
defeated the Confederate right at Mill 
Spring. General Grant, aided by the 
river fleet under Commodore Foote, 
now assailed the centre. Fort Henry 
was first attacked and reduced by the 
gunboats before Grant had time to in- 
vest it. The combined forces then as- 
saulted Fort Donelson, which, after a 
brave resistance, was captured Febru- 
ary i6th with 15,000 prisoners. 

The centre of the Confederate line 
was now pierced, and Johnston and Polk 
were compelled to retreat for fear of 
being cut off. Columbus, Bowling 
Green and Nashville were evacuated, 
and the whole of Kentucky and most 
of Tennessee were in the hands of the 
Federals. General Buell occupied Nash- 
ville ; a strong Union party showed it- 
self in Tennessee, and Senator Andrew 
Johnson was appointed Military Gov- 
ernor of the Slate. 

A Terrible Battle. 

The Confederates formed their second 
line of defense along the railroad from 
Memphis to Chattanooga, and began 
massing their forces at Corinth. The 
armies of Grant and Buell were to unite 
and attack the enemy in his new posi- 
tion. Grant moved up the Tennessee 
river and halted at Pittsburg Ivanding, 
or Shiloh, about twenty miles from 
Corinth, there to await the arrival of 
Buell. Here Johnston made a brilliant 
attack upon him with the intention of 
crushing him before Buell could come 
up. 

A terrible battle was fought April 
6th and 7tli, in which the Confederate 
leader, who was one of the slain, came 
very near effecting his purpose. But 



78 



THK GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



the Federal forces, though driven back 
at nearly every point, stubbornly re- 
sisted, and at the close of the first day 
Buell's advance guard came upon the 
scene. The next morning Grant, now 
reinforced, assumed the offensive ; and 
after a fight of several hours, the Con- 
federates were driven back to Corinth, 
While these operations were taking 



captured for several weeks afterwards on 
account of the slow advances of General 
Halleck, who had assuined command 
of the Federal forces at that point. 

Meanwhile a fleet under Farragut and 
Porter, with a land force under Butler, 
had been sent to attack New Orleans. 
Farragut ran past the batteries and forts 
at the entrance of the river, attacked 




IRON-CLAD 

place in Tennessee, Commodore Foote 
with his gunboats entered the Missis- 
sippi with a small army under Pope, 
and captured Island Number Ten on 
the day of Grant's victory at Shiloh. 
Two months later Fort Pillow was 
abandoned by the Confederates, and 
Memphis at once fell into the hands of 
the Union army. The victory at Shiloh 
decided the fate of Corinth, an import- 
ant railroad center, though it was not / 



GUNBOAT. 

and destroyed the ironclads which met 
him, and captured New Orleans, which 
was occupied by the army under But- 
ler. Farragut with a part of his fleet 
then pushed up the river, clearing away 
all obstacles, passed the batteries at 
Vicksburg, and met the Federal gun- 
boats under Captain Davis above. Thus 
the war in the West had been, so far, 
marked by an almost unbroken series 
of victories for the Federal armies. 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



79 



At the northern boundary of the 
State of Mississippi the Union advance 
stopped for a time; but all was held that 
had been won. To gain control of the 
great riA^er, it was necessary to take 
Vicksburg, with its outpost, Port Hud- 
son, which, between them, commanded 
the entrance to the Red river, and thus 
kept open the communications of the 
eastern part of the Confederacy with its 
States of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. 

Moving on Vicksburg. 

To capture Vicksburg would cut off 
these States, and greatly cripple the 
fighting power of the Confederate gov- 
ernment. The occupation of Chatta- 
nooga was also necessary to the success 
of the Union arms. It would open the 
way into Georgia, and prevent the Con- 
federates from recovering any of the 
lost ground in Tennessee. 

While the South had met with de- 
feat in the West, it was encouraged by 
a success in Hampton Roads. The 
Confederates had taken the " Merri- 
mac," a former frigate of the United 
States navy, and transformed her into 
an iron-clad ram, with sloping sides 
and huge iron beak. On March 8, 
1862, this strange-looking craft entered 
Hampton Roads and attacked the Feb- 
eral fleet lying there, w^hich consisted 
of five wooden ships of war. The Mer- 
rimac destroyed the Cumberland, and 
also compelled the frigate Congress to 
surrender. At night she went back 
to Norfolk. . 

The next morning she was seen com- 
ing out again to complete the work of 
destruction. Suddenly the Monitor, 
a turreted iron-clad vessel, advanced to 
meet her, and after an obstinate engage- 
ment of several hours the Merrimac 



was compelled to retire. These encoun- 
ters were remarkable as the first engage- 
ments between iron-clads and wooden 
vessels, and between two iron-clads. 
The result caused a revolution in the 
navies of the world ; the day of wooden 
war-vessels was seen to be over, and all 
the great powers began at once the con- 
struction of iron and steel vessels. 

The military operations in Virginia 
during the year 1862 offered a strong 
contrast to the course of events in the 
West. This was owing partly, no doubt, 
to the superior ability of the Confeder- 
ate commanders, as compared with their 
antagonists, partly, because on the 
Union side military affairs were too 
much intermingled with politics. 

Jackson Repulsed. 

While General McClellan was organ- 
izing a splendid army of 200,000 men 
near Washington, General Banks was 
ordered to occupy the Shenandoah val- 
ley. He began his advance in Febru- 
ary, and having, as he supposed, cleared 
the valley of the enemy, set out with 
his own corps proper to join McClellan. 
As soon as he was gone, General Jack- 
son, popularly known as "Stonewall 
Jackson," hastened to attack the divi- 
sion of Shields which remained in the 
valley. After a desperate battle at 
Kearnstown, March 23d, Jackson was 
compelled to retire. Banks returned 
to the valley, and Shields was sent to 
join McDowell at Fredericksburg. 

General Fremont now approached 
from the West, in order to unite with 
Banks near Stanton. To prevent this 
Jackson formed the plan of attacking 
the Federal forces in detail. He nearly 
succeeded in getting into the rear of 
the main body with a much largej army 



80 



THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



than Banks could muster. By a hur- 
ried retreat Banks reached and crossed 
the Potomac, with the Confederate cav- 
alry in close pursuit. Sliields hastened 
back to the valley, but his advance 
guard was defeated at Port Republic, 
June 8th, by Jackson, who, the same 
day, had checked Fremont at Cross 
Keys. 

Having thus saved the valley to the 
Confederates, and obliged the govern- 
ment at Washington to detain for the 
defense of the capital a large body of 
troops which McClellan greatly needed 
for other duty, Jackson joined the Con- 
federate army in front of Richmond. 

McOlellan's Advance. 

General McClellan con'"::ntrated the 
Army of the Potomac between Wash- 
ington and Manassas, as if intending 
to advance against Richmond by that 
route. He then witlidrew his forces 
and went by water to Fortress Monroe 
in order to advance up the peninsula 
between the James and York rivers. 
Here he was held in check for a month 
by Johnston at Yorktown, and when 
McClellan was ready to take the place, 
the Confederates retreated toward Rich- 
mond. The Union forces followed, and 
both armies concentrated around Rich- 
mond. 

McClellan gained the battles of Wil- 
j liamsburg, May 5th, and West Point, 
May 9th, and advanced within seven 
miles of the city. A panic broke out 
in the Southern capital, and the Con- 
federate Congress adjourned in haste. 
It was just at ^his time that Stonewall 
Jackson, by his brilliant and daring 
exploits in the Shenandoah Valley, 
obliged the Federal government to 
keep in front of Washington a corps 



under McDowell which was about to 
co-operate with McClellan by way of 
Frederi cksbu rg. 

The movements of McClellan in- 
volved the separation of the two wings 
of his army by the little river Chicka- 
hominy, which by a sudden rise was 
changed into a wide stream. The Con- 
federates under Johnston at once at- 
tacked the Union left wing at Fair 
Oaks and Seven Pines. A fierce battle 
ensued, lasting two days; the result, 
however, was a Union victory. John- 
ston was wounded, and was succeeded 
by Robert E. Lee, who retained com- 
mand of the army of Virginia during 
the rest of the war. 

Plan Had to be Changed. 

The absence of McDowell, who was 
expected to support McClellan's right, 
compelled a change ii> \he whole plan 
of operations. Although Lee had been 
repulsed in an attack on the Federal 
lines at Mechanicsville, June 26th, he 
fell upon them again at Gainer "Mill the 
day following, in overwhelming force, 
and drove them across the Chicka- 
hominy with severe loss. Jackson had 
now reinforced Lee, and McClellan was 
cut off from his base of supplies on 
York river. Unable to re-unite his 
wings and regain his base, the Union 
general decided upon the difficult ma- 
noeuvre of establishing another base on 
the James river. 

While effecting this change, the 
Union troops were hard pressed by Lee 
and Jackson, who, during the period 
from June 26th to July ist, attacked 
them at Golding's Farm, Savage's Sta- 
tion, White Oak Swamp, Glendale, etc., 
and finally at Malvern Hill, where the 
Confederates were signally repulsed, 



THE GREAT Civil. WAR. 



81 



This was the last of a series of engage- 
ments known as the "Seven Days' Bat- 
tles," in the course of which McClellan 
lost over 15,000 men. Lee suffered al- 
most as much. The Union army had 
now reached the James river, and estab- 
lished itself in a position from which it 
could not be driven. 

Designs on Washington. 

Lee and Jackson then turned their 
attention toward Washington, which 
was defended by an army under General 
Pope. Pope's forces stretched along 
the Rappahannock and Rapidan to the 
Shenandoah Valley. General Banks 
held a position at the western end of 
the line, and was attacked by Jackson 
at Cedar Mountain. Lee followed close 
behind, and the two generals forced 
Banks back and then attacked Pope. 
McClellan received orders from Wash- 
ington to join Pope, and a portion of 
his forces came up in time to take part 
in the second battle of Bull Run, Au- 
gust 29th. Pope's army was put to 
rout, Washington was threatened and 
the whole country was wild with ex- 
citement. 

Lee now led his victorious army across 
the upper Potomac and entered Mary- 
land. McClellan, gathering up the 
remnants of the two defeated armies, 
followed and confronted the Confeder- 
ates at Antietam creek. A desperate 
struggle took place, September 17th. 



It left each army exhausted, but the 
victory remained with the Union forces. 
The Confederates recrossed the Poto- 
mac and retired up the Shenandoah 
Valley. 

The administration was dissatisfied 
with McClelld.n's course, and his com- 
mand was given to General Burnside. 
The new commander at once moved 
toward Richmond, proposing to cross 
the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg. 
Here he found Lee posted upon the 
hills behind the town. Burnside crossed 
the river, and, forming his army in 
three divisions, attempted to storm the 
heights, December 13th. It was a day 
of terrible slaughter for the Federal 
troops. They were repulsed with the 
loss of twelve thousand men, the army 
was demoralized, and retreated to the 
north side of the river. Burnside was 
then superseded by General Hooker. 

The North Discouraged. 

The close of 1862 thus found the op- 
posing armies in nearly the same posi- 
tions as at the beginning of the war. 
At the North gloom and discourage- 
ment prevailed. At the State elections 
held in the autumn there was a majority 
against the administration in several of 
the Northern States, and the result of 
the campaigns on the Potomac gave 
great strength to the peace party, which 
believed that the attempt to subjugate 
the South ought to be abandonod. 



CHAPTER VI. 



End of the Great Civil War. 



IN June, 1862, the great Union force 
at Corinth was divided, Buell's 
marching eastward to seize Chat- 
tanooga, while Grant's remained at Cor- 
inth till it should be ready to start for 
Vicksburg. The campaign was so 
badly managed by Halleck that the 
Confederates, under Bragg, seized Chat- 
tanooga before Buell's arrival. They 
were thus enabled to press him so vigor- 
orusly that he had to be largely rein- 
forced from Grant's army. 

Thus weakened, Grant was unable to 
advance for several mou'dis. During 
the summer of 1862 the Confederates 
made a great effort to repair the disas- 
ters they had suffered on the Tennessee 
and Mississippi rivers by an invasion of 
Kentucky. An army under Kirby 
Smith moved from Knoxville, East 
Tennessee, while another, under Bragg, 
marched from Chattanooga. The Con- 
federate general. Smith, defeated Gen- 
eral Nelson near Richmond, Kentucky, 
August 30th, and advanced toward the 
Ohio, threatening Cincinnati. General 
Lew Wallace, however, compelled him 
to fall back to Frankfort. 

Bragg in the meantime hastened 
toward the city of Louisville. Buell, 
leaving Nashville, by forced marches 
reached the place one day ahead of 
Bragg. Being reinforced, he slowly 
pushed the Confederates back. Bragg 
formed a junction with Smith at Frank- 
fort, and four days later a severe but 
indecisive battle was fought at Perry- 
ville, October 8th, The Confederates 
then retreated through Cumberland Gap. 
During Bragg's campaign, the Con- 
82 



federate army in Mississippi unde*- Gen- 
eral Van Dorn made an attempt to turn 
Grant's left wing at Corinth, and thus 
force him back down the Tennessee 
River. This wing was commanded by 
General Rosecrans, who defeated Price 
at luka, a few miles from Corinth, Sep- 
tember 19th. On October 4th Van 
Dorn and Price together attacked Cor- 
inth, but were repulsed by Rosecrans 
with a loss of five thousand men, and 
pursued forty miles. 

Hard Fighting in Tennessee. 

Soon after this Rosecrans superseded 
Buell in command of the army of the 
Cumberland. Bragg had advanced to 
Murfreesborough, in Central Tenne>=see. 
There Rosecrans attacked him, Decem- 
ber 3 1st, and a bloody battle was fought, 
in which 40,000 men were engaged on 
each side, and each lost more than 
10,000. This engagement is generally 
known as the battle of Stone River. It 
was indecisive. On January 2, 1863, 
Bragg renewed the attack with great 
vigor, but this time he was signally de- 
feated, and compelled to retire to Chat- 
tanooga. 

While these battles were being fought 
Grant had begun his first movement 
against the strong and important post 
of Vicksburg, on the Mississippi. His 
plan was to march from Jackson, Missis- 
sippi, while Sherman, with his 40,000 
men, and Porter, with a fleet of gun- 
boats, descended the river from Mem- 
phis. The movements were made ac- 
cording to this arrangement, but Van 
Doru's cavalry succeeded in getting in 



END OF THE GREAT ClVIt WAR. 



83 



Grant's rear and cutting off his sup- 
plies. This compelled Grant to abandon 
his march to Jackson. Sherman and 
Porter attacked the bluffs north of 
Vicksburg, but were repulsed with 
tieavy loss on December 29th. Hearing 
/ Grant's misfortune, they returned to 
Memphis. 

After Hatteras Inlet to Pamlico Sound 
had been captured, it was next resolved 
to attack the Confederate position on 
Roanoke Island, which commands the 
passage between Pamlico and Albe- 
tnarle Sounds. A land and naval expe- 
dition under General Burnsideand Com- 
modore Goldsborough took the forts 
and batteries of the island February 8, 
1862, captured a Confederate flotilla, 
occupied Newberne, North Carolina, 
March 14th, and reduced Fort Macon, 
at Beaufort, April 25 th. 

Capture of Fort Pulaski. 

Expeditions from Port Royal under 
Commodore Dupont took possession of 
Darien and Brunswick, Georgia, and of 
Jacksonville, Fernandina, and St. Au- 
gustine, Florida. April 11, 1862, Gen- 
eral Gilmore captured Fort Pulaski, on 
the Savannah River. Thus the port of 
Savannah was completely closed, al- 
though no effort was made for some 
time to occupy the city. 

During the movement of the armies 
in 1862, Congress had not been idle. It 
was chiefly occupied in measures con- 
nected with the prosecution of the war. 
Its most far-reaching action was in the 
provision for a uniform national cur- 
rency. At the beginning of the war 
the government had borrowed large 
sums of money to defray expenses, and 
it continued to borrow as new demands 
arose. The result was similar to that 



which occurred in the Revolutionary 
War. The promises to pay became less 
valuable as compared with gold, which 
was the standard of value throughout 
the civilized world. 

The banks in the several States could 
no longer obtain gold without paying a 
high price for it: and at the end of 186 1 
they suspended specie payments. In 
order to provide a currency for the peo- 
ple, a bill was passed by Congress early 
in 1863 authorizing the issue of notes 
by the United States Treasury. These 
notes received the popular name of 
"greenbacks," from the color of the 
paper on which they were printed ; and 
to insure their success they were de- 
clared by Congress to be " legal tender," 
February 25, 1862. Early in 1863 Con- 
gress passed an act establishing national 
banks. Heretofore the States had in- 
corporated all banks, and the bills of 
each bank were seldom current except 
in its own neighborhood. By the na- 
tional banking system, the banks were 
to be organized, and the United States 
bonds deposited in Washington. 

Special Legislation. 

The banks were then permitted to 
issue notes up to ninety per cent, of the 
value of the bonds deposited, and the 
notes, being thus secured, became cur- 
rent in every part of the country. A 
homestead bill was passed, which as- 
signed public lands to actual settlers at 
reduced rates. Congress also prohibited 
slavery in the District of Columbia; 
slaves of insurgents were ordered to be 
confiscated ; and the army was forbid- 
den to surrender fugitive slaves to their 
masters. It provided for the construc- 
tion of a Pacific railroad and telegraph, 
and began a further development of the 



84 



END OF THE GREAT CIVIt WAR. 



system of granting public lands to rail- 
way corporations. 

The abolition sentiment had spread 
very rapidly in the North, and it had 
now become supported by the military 
needs of the hour. At the beginning 
of the conflict the Union headers and 
people generally had not favored any 
interference with slavery, but circum- 
stances had proved their position to be 
untenable. President Lincoln, who 
watched anxiously every movement, 
was convinced that the time had come 
when the Federal government could 
no longer attempt to carry on the war 
successfully and spare the system of 
slavery. 

Vexed Question of Slavery. 

He therefore announced, September, 
1862, that unless the revolting States 
should return to their allegiance by Jan- 
uary I, 1 863, he should declare the slaves 
in these States to be free. It was a formal 
notice given out of respect to law ; no 
one seriously expected that it would be 
regarded by the Confederate States. 
And it was not. They only grew more 
firm in consequence of the action taken. 
On the 1st day of January, 1863, in ac- 
cordance with his notice, the President 
issued his celebrated Proclamation of 
Emancipation. 

This act caused much discussion. Mr. 
Lincoln could not, legally, issue such a 
declaration, for the Constitution gave 
him no authority to abolish slavery. But 
he acted on the principle of military 
necessity, advocated by John Quincy 
Adams in his speech of April 14, 1842, 
in which he said : "Whether the war 
be civil, servile, or foreign, I lay this 
down as the law of nations : I say that 
the military authority takes for the time 



the place of all municipal institutions, 
slavery among the rest. Under that 
state of things, so far from its being true 
that the States where slavery exists have 
the exclusive management of the sub- 
ject, not only the President of the United 
States, but the commander of the army 
has power to order the universal eman- 
cipation of slaves." 

The events of the preceding summer 
had shown that the war was far from 
being at an end. The cutting off of the 
cotton supply had been a general calam- 
ity, and the distress produced in conse- 
quence created a fear lest England and 
France should unite in an attempt to 
put an end to the contest. But the 
proclamation changed all this. By it 
the struggle was converted into a cru- 
sade against slavery, and in this light 
foreign intervention was now simply 
impossible, owing to Great Britain's 
attitude towards slavery. 

Negro Regiments. 

Moreover, should the Federal govern- 
ment be successful, the question of 
slavery would practically be settled for- 
ever, for its abolition would be certain 
when the Union was re-established. 
One of the first results of the act was 
the formation of regiments of negro sol- 
diers. An attack made by one of these 
regiments, under Colonel Shaw, upon 
Fort Wagner, in Charleston harbor, 
though unsuccessful, showed so much 
bravery that the prejudice against negro 
soldiers disappeared, and great numbers 
were enrolled. 

General Hooker spent three months 
in reorganizing and strengthening the 
Army of the Potomac. At the end of 
April, 1863, he began his march toward 
Richmond with 120,000 men. Sending 




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battle; of CHANCEIvI<ORSVII,I,E- JACKSON'S ATTACK ON THE RIGHT WING. 



END OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



the sixth corps, under Sedgwick, to cross 
the Rappahannock below Fredericks- 
burg, he threw his main body across the 
river a few miles higher up, and before 
Lee understood his purpose he had ad- 
vanced to Chancellorsville. Here Lee 
won one of the most marked of his vic- 
tories. May I to 4, with only one-half 
as many men as Hooker commanded. 

Battle and Heavy Losses. 

Jackson made a magnificent attack 
upon the Union right, taking it by sur- 
prise, and drove it back in confusion. 
Sedgwick, on the left, had carried the 
lieights of Fredericksburg, and was 
pushing on toward Chancellorsville, 
when the disaster on the right enabled 
Lee to face him with the main Confed- 
erate force. Sedgwick was compelled 
to retire during the night which fol- 
lowed the 4th of May, and Hooker re- 
crossed the Rappahannock the next 
night. Hooker's loss was 16,000 ; Lee's 
was 12,000 ; but the Confederates fur- 
ther sustained a severe disaster in the 
death of Stonewall Jackson. 

Lee now repeated the manoeuvre he 
had practiced after defeating General 
Pope. Turning Hooker's right flank, 
he pushed on through the western part 
of Maryland into Pennsylvania, so as to 
threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore, and 
Washington. There was intense alarm 
at the North, and reinforcements were 
hurried into Pennsylvania from all 
quarters. In consequence of a disagree- 
ment with General Halleck, Hooker 
resigned the command of the Army of 
the Potomac, and it was given to Gen- 
eral George G. Meade. 

The hostile armies, each in full 
force were now moving in parallel 
lines, with the Blue Ridge and South 



Mountain range between them. On the 
1st of July they came into collision at 
Gettysburg. A tremendous battle was 
fought, lasting until the close of July 
3d. It resulted in the defeat of Lee, 
v/ith a loss of about 23,000 mCii; 
Meade's loss was about the same. This 
battle was one of the greatest of modern 
times, the loss on both sides being very 
heavy in proportion to the whole num- 
ber engaged. It was also the turning 
point of the Civil War. 

The South was never able to collect 
so fine an army again, and never re- 
covered from the exhaustion of the Get- 
tysburg campaign. Lee moved slowly 
back to his old position on the Rapidan, 
where he and Meade held each other in 
check until the following spring. Many 
in the North were inclined to believe 
that Lee's former successes had been 
due to Stonewall Jackson's ability, and 
that he had lost his prestige upon the 
death of that brave commander. Bnt 
the campaign of 1 864 was to prove the 
contrary. 

Grant's Victory at Vicksburg. 

On the next day after the battle of 
Gettysburg, General Grant gained a de- 
cisive victory on the Mississippi. Hav- 
ing failed in several attempts to take 
Vicksburg from the North, he now de- 
termined to transfer his army to the 
south side of this strongly- fortified place. 
To do this it was necessary to cross the 
river, march down its west bank, cros^ 
again below Vicksburg, and march up 
the east bank, while the fleet, which 
had run past the batteries of Vicksburg 
after the capture of New Orleans, would 
have to pass them again in order to 
transport the army over the river and 
protect the crossing. 



88 



END OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



This plau was carried out in April. 
Couimodore Porter performed his task 
successfully under a heavy fire, and on 
the 29tli of April opened a cannonade 
upon Grand Gulf, at the mouth of the 
Big Black River, where it had been de- 
termined to attempt a crossing. The 
Confederate batteries here proving too 
strong, the fleet ran past them also, and 
the crossing was made at Bruinsburg, a 
few miles below. Grant now pushed 
rapidly forward. The Confederates were 
beaten at Port Gibson, and compelled 
to evacuate Grand Gulf. McPherson 
and Sherman captured Jackson, the cap- 
ital of Mississippi, and a place of great 
military importance, on account of its 
railway connections. 

Surrenders After Long Siege. 

The Union army then turned, fell 
upon the Confederate general, Pember- 
ton, who haa marched out of Vicks- 
burg to unite with Johnston, defeated 
him at Champion Hills May i6th, and 
at the crossing of the Black River May 
17th, and at last shut him up in Vicks- 
6urg. After a siege of forty -five days 
Pemberton surrendered, and the great 
Confederate stronghold of the West, 
with 27,000 prisoners, fell into the 
hands of the victorious Federals. 

Port Hudson, u.nder siege at the same 
time, could no longer hold out, and the 
Mississippi, as President Lincoln said, 
"ran unvexed to the sea." This was 
the heaviest blow that the Confederacy 
had as yet received ; its whole western 
„one was now virtually conquered, and 
it became possible to concentrate greater 
Union forces against its middle and 
eastern zones. The news of Gettysburg 
md Vicksburg made the Fourth of July, 
1363, a day of rejoicino- in the North, 



and of mourning in thousands of be- 
reaved homes. 

The Vicksburg campaign marked the 
decline of the Confederate fortunes in 
the West, as the Gettysburg campaign 
did in the East. In the meantime the 
people had learned to give a more care- 
ful attention to the welfare of the sol- 
diers who were bearing the brunt of the 
conflict. The Sanitary Commission, the 
Christian Commission, and other volun- 
tary associations, had been organized, 
and were doing a grand work for the 
moral and physical needs of the men in 
the field ; and this care was not confined 
solely to Northern troops, but was often 
extended to the Confederates as well. 

The expenses of the national govern- 
ment for prosecuting the war now 
amounted to $2,000,000 per day on an 
average, and notwithstanding the heavy 
taxation imposed upon the country, the 
debt had increased to $500,000,000 by 
June, 1862 ; during 1863 it was double 
that amount; by June, 1864, it had 
grown to $1,700,000,000, and at the end 
of August, 1865, it attained its max- 
imum, $2,845,907,626. 

Money Carefully Spent. 

But the best of care and judgment 
was exercised in the use of these vast 
expenditures. The army was constantly 
supplied with improved weapons and 
munitions of war ; the blockading fleets 
were kept in perfect order, and every- 
thing was done to insure the success ol 
the Union arms. 

As early as April, 1862, the Confed- 
erate Congress had passed a conscrip- 
tion act, enrolling in the army all adult 
white males below a certain age, but as 
the war went on the demand for men 
bvCanie continually greater, and the 



END OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



89 



conscription was made more sweeping. 
Toward the end of the war every white 
man between the ages of seventeen and 
fifty-five was held liable to military ser- 
vice, and in practice the only limit was 
physical incapacity. 

The Federal government also was 
compelled to take almost a similar 
course. In March, 1863, Congress passed 
an act for the enrollment of all able- 
bodied male citizens between the ages 
of eighteen and forty-five, and the Pres- 
ident was authorized to make drafts for 
military service, those between twenty 
and thirty-five to be first called upon. 
Under this law a call for 300,000 troops 
was made in May. As the full number 
was not made up by volunteering a draft 
was ordered to supply the deficiency. 
The first attempts to carry it out re- 
sulted in forcible resistance in many 
places, the most notable being the 
"" draft riots" in New York city in July, 
just after the battle of Gettysburg. 

Riots in New York. 

These riots lasted four days in that 
city. During this time New York was 
in the hands of a lawless mob, many 
shocking murders were committed and 
$2,000,000 worth of property was de- 
stroyed. All opposition was at length 
put down, but exemptions and substitute 
purchases were freely permitted, and 
the States endeavored to fill their re- 
spective quotas as far as possible by 
offering bounties as a stimulus to volun- 
t'^ering. 

After his renowned victory near Mur- 
freesboro, Rosecrans remained quiet for 
a period, preparing for a new campaign. 
Late in June he began a series of skill- 
ful movements against Bragg which 
compelled the Confederate general to 



fall back upon Chattanooga. Early in 
September Rosecrans forced him to 
evacuate the place by threatening his 
communications. The Union general 
followed him across the Tennessee river 
and was thus beyond tlie strong posi- 
tion of Chattanooga. General Bragg, 
having been heavily reinforced from 
Virginia, turned at Chickamauga creek 
to give battle. 

The Heroic Thomas. 

A severe engagement was fought, 
September 17-20, 1863, in which Long- 
street, who had come to the aid of Bragg, 
routed the right of the Union forces; 
but the wonderful skill and bravery 
of General Thomas, who commanded 
the left wing, saved the Federal army 
and secured its retreat to Chattanooga. 
Bragg, having gained possession of the 
mountains around the place, cut off al- 
most all avenues of further retreat and 
laid siege to Chattanooga. The govern- 
ment at Washington had committed 
the mistake of dividing the Union 
forces, for while Rosecrans was left to 
face an army greatly superior in num- 
bers, under General Bragg, General 
Burnside was sent into east Tennessee 
with an independent command. 

Bragg was now so sure of Rosecrans' 
defeat that he dispatched Longstreet 
with a part of his army to attack Burn- 
side at Knoxville. In October Rose- 
crans was superseded by Thomas, and 
Grant was put in command of all the 
western armies. He was joined at Chat- 
tanooga by two corps under Hooker from 
the Potomac. General Sherman came 
up from Vicksburg with a greater part 
of the armj^ of the Tennessee. Bragg' s 
positions on Lookout Mountain and 
Missionary Ridge were now assaulted. 



90 



END OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



The former was successfully stormed 
by Hooker, November 24tli, part of the 
fighting taking place amidst a thick 
mist which covered the summit, hence 
this has been called the "battle above 



ston. Longstreet raised the siege of 
Knoxville and retreated across the 
mountains into Virginia to join Lee. 

Many attempts had been made to re- 
duce Charleston, South Carolina, the 




Nr**" ^- 



LONGSTREET'S ARRIVAL AT 
the clouds." On the next day Mission- 
ary Ridge was carried by the main 
army, Hooker on the right, Thomas in 
the centre and Sherman on the left. 
Bragg was driven from all his positions 
back to Dalton, and was soon after- 
Ward superseded by General J. E^. Johu- 



BRAGG'S HEADQUARTERS. 

strongest, as well as the most important 
of the Southern seaports, but without 
success. At length Fort Wagner was 
taken, September 7th, after a tremend- 
ous bombardment by the Federal fleet 
and Gillmore's batteries ; Fort Sumter, 
also, was reduced to ruins The block- 



•END OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR 



91 



ading vessels were thus enabled to enter 
tlie harbor, and the port of Charleston 
was entirely closed. 

Taking advantage of every loophole 
in the British foreign enlistment act, 
the Confederate authorities had suc- 
ceeded in fitting out several formidable 
cruisers, which, in the course of the 
year 1863, did immense damage to 
American commerce. Whenever they 
were closely pursued by United States 
vessels they took refuge in neutral ports, 
and then put out to sea again upon the 
first favorable opportunity. The most 
active ones were the Florida, the 
Alabama and the Georgia. The Flor- 
ida, built at Liverpool, after hav- 
ing captured twenty- one vessels, was 
seized in the harbor of Bahia, Brazil, 
October, 1864. The Georgia was built 
at Glasgow, put to sea in April, 
but was captured after a short cruise 
by the United States frigate Niagara. 
The more important of the Confederate 
cruisers was the Alabama. She was 
built at Liverpool for the Confederate 
captain, Semmes. 

Allowed to Escape. 

The British government was urged 
by the American minister, Mr. Adams, 
to enforce its own laws, and prevent her 
going to sea;. yet she was allowed to 
set sail in July. After destroying more 
than sixty vessels, she was met by 
.the United States steamer Kearsage, 
'commanded by Captain Winslow, off 
Cherbourg, June 19, 1864, and after an 
hour's action the Alabama was sunk. 

At the beginning of 1864, several 
detached operations were carried on 
which, though attracting much atten- 
tion at the time, had but little direct 
bearing upon the closing campaigns of 



the war. General Sherman made his 
raid nearly across the State of Missis- 
sippi, destroying railroads, bridges and 
supplies. General Seymour, leading a 
Union expedition into Florida, was de- 
feated. General Banks was sent up the 
Red river to attack Shreveport, anc^ 
bring away cotton. The expeditiorl 
ended in failure and disaster. 

General Rosecrans was appointed to 
command in Missouri. He succeeded in 
repelling an invasion by Price, who was 
finally driven from the State. General 
Forrest, with a Confederate force, made 
a raid into Tennessee and Kentucky, 
and captured Fort Pillow, April 12th, 
where a number of negro troops were 
massacred. 

New Commander-in-Chief. 

The success of Grant in the west had 
made him the chief figure in the war. 
In March, 1864, he superseded Halleck 
as commander-in-chief, with the rank 
of lieutenant-general. He at once took 
personal direction of the campaign 
against Richmond, while retaining 
Meade in immediate command. The 
army of the Potomac was re-organized 
in three corps, under Hancock, Warren 
and Sedgwick, to which was soon added 
another under Burnside, while General 
Philip Sheridan was called from the 
west, and appointed to the command of 
all the cavalry in the eastern army. 

Lee's forces, which comprised the 
flower of the Southern troops, had other- 
wise been divided into three corps, un- 
der Generals A. P. Hill, Ewell and 
Longstreet. Sherman had been left in 
command of the three v/estern armies 
of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the 
Tennessee, and he was to oppose John- 
ston at Dalton. According to arrange- 



92 



BND OF THE GREAT CIVIITWAR. 



r 



ment, a simnltaneous advance was made in Georgia and 
Virginia, early in May. 

The army of the Potomac, numbering about 125,000 * 
men (nearly twice as many as Lee's), _ 

crossed the Rapidan and entered the 
"Wilderness" on the other side. It 
was Grant's object to push through this 
difficult country as rapidly as possible 
and get between Lee's army 
and Richmond. In pursuing 
the direct route through Fred- 
ericks- 
burg to 
Rich A' 
mond, 




II' .^ ^ 



WOUNDING OF GENERAIv LONGSTREET BY 
HIS OWN MEN. 



IT the Union 
army encoun- 
g tered a series of 
strong defensive po- 
sitions, of which Lee 
availed himself with con- 
summate skill. The bat- 
tles began on the 5th, and 
continued until the 12th 
without interruption, both 
sides fighting with the 
litmost bravery. 



I 

1 




G- uO^^ 



J-"H 



'^^OQDARD 



END OF THB GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



9S 



It was during these engagements that 
General Longstreet was disabled by an 
unfortunate blunder of his own troops. 
They mistook him and his men for 
Union cavalry and fired a volley at 
them. Longstreet waved his hand and 
shouted to them to stop firing. They 
did so, but not until a bullet passed 
through his throat, coming out at the 
shoulder. He fell from his horse, and 



Anna and Cold Harbor in which the 
Union losses were terrible. Having now 
reached the Chickahominy, and finding 
it impossible to break through Lee's 
lines of defense, Grant crossed the river 
and moving far to the right of his ad- 
versary, transferred his army beyond 
the James to assail Richmond from the 
south. 

This involved the reduction of the 




was believed to be dead. Such a 
calamity spread dismay for a time in 
the Confederate ranks. Longstreet was 
only badly wounded and was disabled 
for the remainder of the campaign. 

Lee was steadily forced back, and on 
the 9th Grant was clear of the Wilder- 
ness with his forces concentrated near 
Spottsylvania court-house. Here there 
was furious and obstinate fighting for 
ten days, with scarcely any intermission. 
Then followed the battles of North 



BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR. 

strongly-fortified town of Petersburg, on 
the Appomattox, practically a part of 
the defenses of Richmond, from which 
it was twenty miles distant. It also 
brought the Federal lines into dangerous 
proximity to Lee's railroad communi- 
cations with the south. At this point, 
therefore, the Confederate commander 
stationed the best part of his troops, and 
stubbornly resisted all Grant's efforts to 
extend his lines further to the south- 
west or to reach the railroads. 



94 



END OF THE GREAT CIVIE WAR. 



A long siege of Richmond and Peters- 
burg was now begun early in June, but 
neither army remained inactive. In 
July, Eee sent Early into the Shenan- 
doah valley, with a corps strong enough 
to menace Washington, hoping that 
Grant might be induced to call off 
troops from Petersburg. The chief re- 
sult of Early's movement was the burn- 
ing of Chambersburg, and the capture 
of a quantity of supplies. Grant put 
Sheridan in command of the valley, 
who defeated General Early at Win- 
chester, September 19th, and at Fisher's 
Hill two days later, after which he de- 
stroyed all the rich crops in the valley 
and carried off the cattle, so that the 
Confederates might not be tempted to 
repeat the raid. 

Battle of Oedar Creek. 

Brt Early, having obtained fresh 
troop, suddenly fell upon the Federals 
at Cedar Creek, October igth, driving 
them back in great confusion. Sheridan 
was absent when the battle was fought, 
but, getting intelligence of it, he rode 
rapidly up the valley, rallied his men, 
who w^re, however, being enheartened 
by their respective commanders, and 
scattered Early's forces, which never 
met Sheridan again as a compact army 
during the remainder of the war. 

Meanwhile, Grant had succeeded in 
getting possession of a few miles of the 
Weldon railroad, upon which Eee de- 
fpended for transportation, but the Con- 
federate general brought his supplies in 
wagons round that portion held by the 
Federals. The two armies now re- 
mained in comparatively the same posi- 
tion until the following spring. 

The western campaign in 1864 began 
at the same time as Grant' s movement 



in Virginia. Sherman advanced from 
Chattanooga with 100,000 men under 
Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield, 
against Johnston's force of 75,000. The 
objective point of the campaign was 
the capture of Atlanta, Georgia, a very 
strongly fortified place about one hun- 
dred miles south of Chattanooga, and 
the chief manufactory of the Confederate 
military supplies. Johnston, with his 
weaker force, dared not risk a regular 
battle, but he made the best use of vari- 
ous defensive positions which therough 
and mountainous country afforded. 

Sherman's Brilliant Tactics. 

By a series of masterly flank move- 
ments Sherman compelled him to evac- 
uate one position after another. On May 
14th the warrior-bishop, Eeonidas Polk, 
was killed by an exploding shell while 
standing with Johnston and Hardee on 
the crest of Pine Mountain. Severe 
battles were fought at Resaca, May 15th; 
Dallas, May 25th; Lost Mountain, June 
14th, and Kenesaw Mountain, June 27th. 
By the loth of July Johnston was in- 
trenched behind the defences of Atlanta, 
and the two armies were facing each 
other with the Chattahoochee river be- 
tween them. Johnston's retreat had 
been conducted with great skill, but he 
was now superseded by Hood, July 17th, 
who was known as a " fighting general." 
Hood at once proceeded to carry out the 
active policy of the Confederate govern- 
ment, and assumed the offensive. Before 
the end of the month he had made three 
furious assaults on fhe Union lines and 
was repulsed in every one of them. 

The Federals, however, sustained a 
heavy loss in the death of General Mc- 
Pherson. At length, by fine mancEUver- 
ing, Sherman succeeded in gaining the 



END OF THE GREAT CIVII, WAR. 



fear of Atlantt., and cutting the supply 
railroads. This obliged the Confed- 
erates to retreat in all haste, and 
on the 2d of September, Sherman 
was able to telegraph to 
Washington that Atlanta ^^^ 
was won. 



96 

federacy. He moved northwestward 
by Tuscumbia and Florence into mid- 




DEATH OF GENERAL POLK. 



Hood, by the command of Davis, now 
made a fatal mistake, which materi- 
ally hastened the downfall of the Con- 



dle Tennes. 
see, thinking 
that Sherman 
would follow 
him in ordei 
to defend that State. But Slier- 
man was no more to be controlled 
by this device than Grant had 
)een by Early's raid into the 
Shenandoah. He divided his 
army, sending back part of it 
under Thomas to take care of 
Hood, while he himself prepared 
to continue his advance through 
Georgia. Hood, moving north. 
ward toward Nashville, was met 
and defeated at Franklin, No< 
vember 30th, with heavy loss, by Scho- 
field. The Confederate general arrived 
at Nashville with about 44,000 men. 



96 



END OF THE GREAT CIVII. WAR. 



The Union forces awaited him there 
behind the fortifications, Thomas, hav- 
ing completed his preparations, suddenly 
moved out of his works and fell upon 
the Confederate lines, December 15th. 
The battle lasted two days and ended 
n the utter rout and demoralization of 
lood's forces. Thus one of the two 
great armies of the Confederacy was 
scattered, never again to be united. Of 
all the battles fought in the course of 
the war, this was the most complete 
victory. 

Presidential Election. 

While these things were going on, 
the presidential election of 1864 took 
place. Some of the more radical men, 
dissatisfied with what they called Mr. 
Lincoln's timid and irresolute policy, 
met in convention. May 31st, at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and nominated John C. Fre- 
mont for the Presidency. Mr. Lincoln 
and Andrew Johnson were nominated, 
June "^Uj for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent by the Republican National Con- 
vention at Baltimore. 

The Democratic National Convention 
declared in its platform that the inabil- 
ity of the Federal government to restore 
the Union by war was demonstrated by 
four years of failure ; that the constitu- 
tion had been violated in all its parts 
under the plea of military necessity ; 
and that a cessation of hostilities ought 
to be obtained. It nominated George 
B. McClellan and George H. Pendleton 
as President and Vice-President. 

This declaration of the peace Democ- 
racy that the war was a failure, when 
all things were now pointing toward the 
final success of the North, caused many 
doubtful votes to be cast for the Repub- 
lican candidates, and assured their elec- 



tion. When the electoral votes were 
counted, Lincoln and Johnson had re- 
ceived 212; McClellan and Pendleton 
received 21. 

Sherman had burned Atlanta, de- 
stroyed the railroads and telegraphs in 
lii« rear, sent back the sick and wounded, 
and much of. the baggage, and set out, 
November 14th, on his "famous mlarch 
through Georgia," His army, 65,000 
strong, was spread out over a breadth of 
forty miles, subsisting mainly on the 
produce of the country. For a month 
scarcely anything was heard of him at 
the North, when he suddenly turned up 
at Savannah, Ga. He had met with but 
little opposition on his route. The Con- 
federates had numerous bodies of troops 
which might have been concentrated to 
oppose his march, but he had threatened 
so many points, and kept the enemy in 
so much doubt as to his objects, that 
they could not tell for which point he 
was making. 

A Christmas Gift. 

On December I3tli Fort McAllister 
was taken by assault, and on the 20th 
Savannah was evacuated by the Confed- 
erates, Sherman sending the news of the 
capture to President Lincoln as a "Christ- 
mas gift." He also sent word that the 
Confederacy was nothing but a shell, 
and that he was ready with his victorious 
army to march northward. 

The only important ports, except Gal- 
veston, which remained open to the Con- 
federacy in the summer of 1864, were 
Mobile, in Alabama, and Wilmington, 
in North Carolina, The forts command- 
ing the entrance to Mobile bay were 
captured, August 5th, and the port was 
closed. On January 16, 1865, Wilming- 
ton, North Carolina, was taken by a 



END OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



97 



..ombined land and naval force, under 
General Terry and Commodore Porter. 
On the day before tlxis event, Sherman 
had begun his northward march, pass- 
ing through Columbia to Fayetteville, 
North Carolina. 

This movement had forced the evacu- 
ation of Charleston and other coast cities, 
and their garrisons had been concen- 
trated under Johnston as a last hope. 
The military support of the Confederacy 
now rested on the army which Lee com- 
manded within the intrenchments of 
Richmond and Petersburg, and on the 
remnant of the western forces with which 
Johnston was trying to check Sherman's 
advance. Some sharp fighting took 
place north of Fayetteville, but Golds- 
borough was reached March 21st, and 
Johnston retreated to Raleigh. Sher- 
man pushed on after him, but events 
in Virginia were fast rendering a con- 
test in North Carolina unnecessary. 

Lee's Situation Desperate. 

While the Union army occupied Golds- 
borough, Sherman took a steamer on 
the coast and hurriedly visited the James 
river, where he met the President, Gen- 
eral Grant and General Meade, and ar- 
ranged with them the plan of operations 
for the future. During Sherman's march 
through North Carolina, Sheridan had 
led a column of cavalry up the Shenan- 
doah valley to destroy Lee's communi- 
cations in the rear cf Richmond. He 
passed along the James river, doing 
great damage to the canal and railroads 
and joined the main army in front of 
Petersburg just as Sherman arrived there 
for his conference with the President 
and (jrant. 

The situation of Lee was now becom- 
ing desperate. He determined to aban- 
7 



don Petersburg and Richmond, move 
by way of Danville and effect a junction 
with Johr.ston. With this purpose he 
made one desperate attempt to break 
the center of the Union lines at Fort 
Steadman, intending under cover of the 
attack to withdraw his force. The ef 
fort failed, and Lee was repulsed with 
heavy loss. Grant resumed his attempts 
to push his lines further round to the 
south of Petersburg. 

Sheridan was put in command of the 
extreme left, assailing Lee's right at Five 
Forks, April ist, destroying the South- 
side railroad, and maintained his posi- 
tion. 

Three Fierce Assaults. 

The Confederate forts Alexander and 
Gregg made a stubborn resistance. For 
a time the fate of the Confederate Army 
of Northern Virginia depended on Fort 
Gregg ; for, if it could not be held until 
Lee had time to take a new position, 
his army was doomed. It repelled three 
assaults by the Union troops, but the 
fourth carried them over and into the 
works, where they found that, out of 
the two hundred and fifty comprising 
the garrison, only thirty were unhurt. 
All the rest were killed or wounded. 

To avoid being outflanked Lee was 
compelled to lengthen out his line, 
already too thin. The next morning, 
April 2d, Grant made a general as- 
sault and carried his army within the 
lines of the Petersburg defences. Lee 
retreated, with the intention of bringing 
his forces and Johnston's together for a 
final stand, while the advance guard of 
the Union army entered Richmond. 
The Confederate authorities hastened to 
escape to Danville, having first set fire 
to the shipping, tobacco warehouses, 
etc., at Richmond. 



S8 



ENB OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



No time was lost in celebrations of 
tlie victory. Grant pressed on in the 
pursuit of Lee with all vigor. He had 
so disposed the Federal army that the 
escape of the Confederates was almost 
impossible. The Confederate forces 



9, 1865. The terms of surrender offered 
by Grant were very generous ; all pri- 



' 1 ^ 




w'^.re headed oQ at Appomattox Court 
H^use, where J <? surrendered, April 



GALLANT DEFENSE OF FORT GREGG, 
vate property belonging to officers and 
soldiers was to be retained, the men 
were even allowed to keep their horses, 
"because," Grant said, "they would 
need them for the work oti their farms." 



END OP THE GREAT CiVIt WAR. 



^9 



Officers and men were at once set free 
on parole, with the understanding that 
so long as they did not violate their 
parole, nor break the laws, they would 
not be disturbed by the Federal gov- 
ernment. 

Sherman had begun his final opera- 
tions against Johnston when the news 
arrived of the surrender of Lee. John- 
ston thereupon capitulated April 26 on 
much the same terms that had been ac- 
corded to the Confederate army in Vir- 
ginia after an unsuccessful effort at a 
more favorable settlement. All the 
other Confederate forces in the field also 
surrendered, and the great Civil War 
came to an end. The news was received 
with an outburst of joy at the North. 

End of the Great Struggle. 

Mr. Lincoln had begun his second 
term on March 4, 1865. At that time 
the end of the struggle was plainly near, 
and the President in his inaugural ad- 
dress had already expressed the hope 
that there would be a reconciliation be- 
tween the two sections. He said : ' ' With 
malice toward none, with charity for 
all, with firmness in the right as God 
gives us to see the right, let us strive 
to finish the work we are in, to bind up 
the nation's wounds, to care for him 
who shall have borne the battle, and 
for his widow and for his orphans ; to 
do all which may achieve and cherish 
a just and a lasting peace among our- 
selves and with all nations." 

The public rejoicings over the cap- 
ture of Richmond were clouded by the 
death of the wise and noble Lincoln. 
He had gone to Ford's theatre on the 
evening of April 14, and was sitting in 
his box, when an actor named J. Wilkes 
Booth entered unperceived and shot 



the President through the head, crying : 
" The South is avenged. Sic semper 
tyrannis.^'' Almost at the same time 
one of Booth's accomplices named Payne 
attempted to assassinate Secretary Sew- 
ard, who was ill at home, and wounded 
him seriously, but not fatally. There 
had been a plot on the part of some des- 
perate characters when the Confederacy 
fell, to destroy the leaders of the Fed- 
eral government, but their plans were 
accomplished in part only. 

Death of the Assassins. 

The chief parties implicated perished 
mx erably. Booth and Payne escaped 
for a time, but vrere soon caught. Booth 
was killed while resisting arrest. Payne 
and three others were hanged, and sev' 
eral persons concerned in the plot wei^ 
sentenced to imprisonment. 

The President lingered a few hours 
and died without giving any sign of 
consciousness. His death caused the 
deepest sorrow, not only in the North, 
but in the South as well, and through- 
out all the civilized world. He had 
won the abiding love and trust of the 
people, and his name will forever be 
linked with that of Washington ; for 
he was in many ways the second founder 
of his country. 

Jefferson Davis, while trying to es- 
cape, was captured by a detachment of 
General J. H. Wilson's cavalry at Ir- 
winsville, Georgia, and sent to For-tress 
Monroe. Here he was confined a close 
prisoner for a long time on the charge 
of treason. He was at last liberated on 
bail furnished by Horace Greeley and 
others, and all proceedings against him 
were finally abandoned. In fact, the 
glorious triumph of the government oi 
the United States was in no wise sul- 



LofC. 



100 



END OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR. 



lied by any dismal executions for trea- 
son. 

The assassination of Lincoln checked 
for a time the movement which had 
already begun for the restoration of the 
seceding States. People who had been 
ready in their joy to make peace with 
those who had been leaders in the Con- 
federacy now were ready to believe that 
the spirit which had brought on the 
war was unchanged. There was a de- 
mand that the laws against treason, 
passed by Congress during the heat of 
the war, in 1862, should be rigidly en- 
forced. These laws prescribed that the 
punishment of treason and rebellion 
should be death, or fine and imprison- 
ment. 

Amnesty for Traitors. 

But a wiser judgment prevailed. 
There was no hanging for treason. The 
leaders of the Confederacy were never 
jrought to trial. The president of the 
Confederate States was suffered to go 
free ; and the vice-president, before his 
death, became an efficient and respected 
member in the Congress of the United 
States. For a long time, however, all 
persons who had previously taken oath 
of allegiance to the Federal government, 
and then had broken it by joining the 
Confederacy, were debarred from hold- 
ing any office under the government of 
the United States. 

The expenses of the Federal govern- 
ment amounted at one time to three 
and a half million dollars a day. By 
August 31, 1865, the whole debt had 
reached its maximum, amounting to 
about $2,845,907,626. Some ^800,000,- 
Qoo of revenue had also been spent 



mainly on the war. Beside the regular 
outlay b" the government enormous 
sums were spent by States, cities, coun- 
ties and towns in bounties to volunteers, 
and by the sanitary commissions and 
other societies for the comfort of sick 
and wounded soldiers, and for the whole 
army in general. The expenses of the 
Confederate government can never be 
known. Its debt was estimated at about 
;^ 2, 000, 000,000, but this was wiped out 
by the failure of the Confederacy, all 
its bonds and notes becoming worth- 
less. 

Vast Destruction of Property. 

The amount of property destroyed 
by the Union and Confederate armies 
( can scarcely be estimated, and the 
money value ($2,000,000,000) of the 
slaves in the South fell a sacrifice to 
the war. In the United States funds 
were raised by the sale of bonds, the 
issue of paper money, of " greenbacks " 
and the imposition of heavy taxes, in- 
cluding, for some years, a tax on in- 
comes. The notes became greatly de- 
preciated, so that in July, 1864, the 
price of gold in paper currency was 
nearly three dollars. Gold and silver 
almost disappeared from circulation. 

The finances of the Confederacy were 
in a ruinous condition long before the 
end of the war. It could make no drafts 
on the future by bond issues, and it 
was a very difficult matter to find pur- 
chasers for southern bonds. As ex- 
penses increased they had to be met by 
paper issues, and each issue was accom- 
panied by a corresponding decline in 
value, until a dollar in coin was wortli 
fifty dollars in paper. 



CHAPTER VII. 



From the Restoration of the Union to Our War with Spain. 



O I HE most important event follow- 
* [ ing close upon the restoration of 
peace was the opening of the 
Pacific railway from the Missouri river 
to the Pacific Ocean in 1869. The 
eastern division of this road is known 
as the Union Pacific railway, and was 
begun at Omaha, Nebraska, in Decem- 
ber, 1863, and carried westward. But 
little progress was made in the work 
until 1865, when it was pushed rapidly 
forward. 

The western division, known as the 
Central Pacific railway, was begun at 
San Francisco, about the same time, 
and carried eastward across the Sierra 
Nevada. The two roads united at Og- 
den, near Salt Lake City, in Utah, and 
the union was accomplished on the 
tenth of May, 1869, on which day the 
last rail was laid. The Union Pacific 
railway, from Omaha to Ogden, is one 
thousand and thirty-two miles in length; 
the Central Pacific, from Ogden to San 
Francisco, eight hundred and eighty- 
two miles; making a total line of nine- 
teen hundred and fourteen miles. 

Immediately upon the opening of 
President Lincoln's second term of 
ofiice, Mr. Charles Francis Adams, the 
American minister at the court of St. 
James, was instructed to call the atten- 
tion of the British Government to the 
depredations committed upon American 
commerce by Confederate cruisers, built, 
equipped and manned in England, and 
to insist upon the responsibility of 
Great Britain for the losses thus in- 
curred by American ship-owners. Mr. 
Adams discharged this duty in a com- 



munication addressed to the British 
Government on April 7th, 1865. This 
led to a correspondence which continued 
through the summer of that year. Great 
Britain refused to admit the validity of 
the American claim, or to submit the 
question to the arbitration of any foreign 
government. The " Alabama question ' ' 
remained unsettled for several years, 
and occasioned a considerable amount 
of ill-feeling between the two countries. 
Both governments regarded it as full of 
danger, but to Great Britain it was 
especially so, as in the event of a war 
between that country and any foreign 
power, the United States, following the 
example of England, might and doubt- 
less would allow cruisers to be sent out 
from their ports which would seriously 
cripple, if they did not destroy, the 
British commerce. 

Court of Arbitration. 

After Mr. Adams' return from Eng- 
land, his successor, Reverdy Johnson, 
was directed by the President to reopen 
the matter. He negotiated a treaty 
with the Earl of Clarendon on behalt 
of the British Government in 1869, but 
this arrangement was unsatisfactory to 
the Senate, which body refused to rat- 
ify it. 

Two years later the matter was re- 
vived, and in 1871 a joint high com- 
mission, composed of a number of dis- 
tinguished public men, appointed by 
the American and British Governments, 
met at Washington, and arranged a set- 
tlement known as the treaty of Wash- 
ington, which was ratified bv hoth. 

10: 



102 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



Governments. This treaty was ratified 
by the Senate on the twenty-fourth of 
May, and provided for the .settlement 
not only of the Alabama claims, but of 
ill other questions at issue between the 
iJnited States and Great Britain. 

The Alabama claims were referred by 
the treaty of Washington to a board of 
arbitration composed of five commis- 
sioners selected from the neutral na- 



On the night of Sunday, October 8, 
1 87 1, a fire broke out in the city of 
Chicago, and raged with tremendous 
violence for two days, laying the greater 
part of the city in ashes. It was 
the most destructive conflagration of 
modern times. The total area of the 
city burned over was two thousand 
one hundred and twenty-four acres, 
or very nearly three and one-third 




CHICAGO AFTER THE FIRE. 



dons. This board met at Geneva, in 
Switzerland, on the fifteenth day of 
April, 1872, and the American and 
English representatives presented to it 
their respective cases, which had been 
prepared by the most learned counsel 
in both countries. On the twenty- 
seventh of June the board announced 
its decision. The claims of the United 
States were admitted, and the damages 
awarded our Government were $16,- 
250,000. These were paid in due time. 



square miles. The number of build- 
ings destroyed was seventeen thousand 
four hundred and fifty. About two 
hundred and fifty persons died from 
various causes during the conflagration, 
and ninety-eight thousand persons were 
rendered homeless by it. The entiie 
business quarter was destroyed. The 
actual loss will never be known. As 
far as it can be ascertained, it was about 
one hundred and ninety-six millions of 
dollars. 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN 



103 



On the 29tli of May, 1872, Congress 
passed an act removing the disabilities 
imposed upon the Southern people by 
the third section of the fourteenth 
amendment to the Constitution. From 
this general exemption were excepted 
all person^ who had been member;^ of 
Congress, officers of the army or navy, 
heads of departments under the gen- 
eral government, or ministers to for- 
eign countries, who naa resigned their 
positions and joined the secession move- 
ment. By this act at least one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand men of capacity 
and experience, whose services were 
greatly needed by the South, were re- 
stored to political life. 

Discontent in Cuba. 

For many years Cuba had been grow- 
ing dissatisfied with the rule of Spain. 
In 1868 a revolution broke out in that 
island, having for its object the expul- 
sion of the Spaniards and the establish- 
ment of the independence of Cuba. The 
patriot army was able to win numerous 
successes over the Spanish troops, and 
for several years maintained its position 
against every effort to dislodge it. 

Very great sympathy was manifested 
for the Cuban patriots by the people of 
the United States, and repeated efforts 
were made to induce the government of 
this country to recognize the independ- 
ence of Cuba and assist the patriots, or 
at least to acknowledge their rights as 
belligerents. The government, how- 
ever, faithfully observed its obligations 
as a neutral power, and forbade the or- 
ganization or departure of all expedi- 
tions from this country for the assistance 
of the Cubans. The Cuban agents were 
prevented from shipping arms or mili- 
tary supplies to their forces, and several 



vessels intended to serve as cruisers 
against the Spanish commerce were 
seized and detained by the Federal au- 
thorities. 

In spite of the precautions of the 
government, however, several expedi- 
tions aid succeed in getting to sea and 
reaching Cuba. One of these embarked 
on the steamer Virginius, in the fall of 
1873. vVhen ofi" the coast of Jamaica 
the Spanish war steamer Tornado was 
sighted. She at once gave chase, and 
though the Virginius was on the high 
seas and was flying the American flag, 
overhauled her and took possession of 
her on the thirty-first of October. The 
Tornado then carried her prize into the 
port of Santiago de Cuba, which was 
reached the next day. Captain Fry, 
the commander of the Virginius, and 
the crew and passengers of the vessel 
were thrown into prison. 

Wholesale Murder. 

After a mock trial, in which the 
simplest forms of decency were disre- 
garded. Captain Fry and a number of 
the crew and passengers of the Vir- 
ginius, about thirty-five or forty in all, 
were shot by order of the military au- 
thorities. The other prisoners were 
held in a most cruel captivity to await 
the pleasure of the Spanish officials at 
Havana. The consul of the United 
States at Santiago de Cuba made great 
exertions to save Fry and those con- 
demned to die with him. He was treated 
with great indignity by the Spanish 
officials, and was not allowed to com- 
municate with Havana, from which 
point he could consult his government 
by telegraph. 

When the news of the seizure of the 
Virginius at sea under the Ameiicatj. 



104 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



flag reached the United States it aroused 
a storm of indignation. Meetings were 
held in all the principal cities, and the 
press unanimously sustained the popular 
demand that the government should re- 
quire satisfaction for the outrage upon 
its flag. The general sentiment of the 
people was in favor of instant war, and 
it was openly declared that a better op- 
portunity would never arise to drive the 
Spaniards out of Cuba and obtain pos- 
session of the island. 

The government acted with firmness 
and prudence. Several vessels of war 
were sent to Santiago de Cuba to prevent 
the execution of the surviving prison- 
ers taken with the Virginius ; the fleet 
in the West Indies was reinforced as 
rapidly as possible, and the navy was 
at once put on a war footing in order to 
be ready for any emergency. The Presi- 
dent was urged to convene Congress in 
extra session, but he declined to do so, 
knowing that that body would be most 
1 .kely to yield to the popular demand for 
war, and he was anxious to settle the dif- 
ficulty by peaceful means if possible. 

Demands upon Spain. 

General Sickles, the American min- 
ister at Madrid, was ordered to demand 
of the Spanish government the arrest 
and punishment of the officials impli- 
cated in the massacre of Captain Fry 
and his associates, a suitable indemnity 
in money for the families of the mur- 
dered men, an apology to the United 
States for the outrage upon their flag, 
and the surrender of the Virginius to the 
naval authorities of the United States. 

These demands were at once submitted 
to Senor Castellar, the president of the 
Spanish republic. In the critical situa- 
tion in which Spain was then placed 



by her internal dissensions, Castellar had 
no choice but to submit to the American 
demands. Orders were at once trans- 
mitted to Cuba to surrender the Virgin- 
ius and all the prisoners to the Americar 
naval forces. 

The orders of the Spanish govern- 
ment were at first disregarded by the 
officials at Havana, who blustered a great 
deal, and declared their willingness to go 
to war with the United States. They 
were brought to their senses, however, 
by the warning of Captain General Jo- 
vellar, who told them that their refusal 
to obey the orders of the Madrid gov- 
ernment would certainly involve them 
in a war with the United States, in 
which Spain would leave them to fight 
that power without aid from her. The 
Havana officials, therefore, yielded an 
ungracious obedience to the orders of 
the home government. 

Fate of the Virginius. 

The survivors of the Virginius expe- 
dition, who were in a most pitiable con- 
dition, in consequence of the cruelty 
with which they had been treated during 
their imprisonment, were released and 
delivered on board an American man-of- 
war in the Harbor of Havana. 

On the twelfth of December the Vir- 
ginius, which had been taken to Havana 
by her captors some time before, was 
towed irom that harbor and delivered to 
an American vessel sent to receive her. 
She was carried to Key West, from 
which port she was ordered to New 
York. On the voyage she foundered at 
sea in a gale off" Cape Fear, on the 
twenty-sixth of December. At a later 
period the Spanish government paid the 
indemnity demanded by the United 
States, 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



105 



On the ninth of November, 1872, afire 
occurred in Boston, and burned until 
late on the tenth, sweeping over a area 
of sixty-five acres in the centre of the 
wholesale trade of the city, and destroy- 
ing property to the amount of seventy- 
eight million dollars. As this fire was 



at length became dissatisfied with their 
new location, which they declared was 
unable to afford them a support, and 
began a series of depredations upon the 
settlements of the whites, which soon 
drew upon them the vengeance of the 
Federal government. Troops were sent 




THE LAVA BEDS — SCENE OF THE MODOC WAR. 



confined to the business quarter ol the 
city, comparatively few persons were 
deprived of their homes. 

Early in 1873, a troublesome war be- 
gan with the Modoc Indian tribe on the 
Pacific coast. These Indians had been 
removed by the government from their 
old homes in California to reservations 
in the northern part of Oregon. They 



against them, but they retreated to 
their fastnesses in the lava beds, where 
they maintained a successful resistance 
for several months. The government 
at length reinforced the troops operating 
against them, and General Canby, com- 
manding the department of the Pacific, 
assumed the immediate command of the 
troops in the field, 



106 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



At the same time, a commission was 
appointed by the government to en- 
deavor to settle the quarrel with the 
Indians peaceably. This commission 
held several conferences with Captain 
Jack, the head chief of the Modocs, 
and the other Indian leaders, but accom- 
plished nothing. At length the com- 
missioners and General Canby agreed 
<:o meet the Indians in the lava beds, a 
short distance in advance of the lines of 
the troops. They went unarmed and 
without an escort. While the confer- 
ence was in progress, the Indians sud- 
denly rose upon the commissioners and 
killed all but one, who managed to 
escape with severe wounds. General 
Cranby was shot down at the same time 
and died instantly. 

Hanged Till They Were Dead. 

The Indians at once fled to their strong- 
holds amid the rocks. The troops, in- 
furiated by the murder of their com- 
mander, closed in upon them from all 
sides and shut them in the lava beds. 
Their position was one which a handful 
of men might defend against an army, 
and they held it with a desperate deter- 
mination. They were dislodged finally 
by the shells of the American guns, 
and such as were not killed were cap- 
tured. Captain Jack and his associates 
in the murder of General Canby and the 
commissioners were tried by a court- 
martial and sentenced to death. They 
were hanged in the presence of their 
countrymen and of the troops on the 
third of October, 1873. 

The year 1875 completed the period 
of one hundred years from the opening 
of the Revolution, and the events of 1775 
were celebrated with appropriate com- 
jneinorative ceremonies in the places 



where they occurred. The centennial 
anniversary of the battles of Lexington 
and Concord was celebrated at those 
places on the nineteenth of April with 
great rejoicings. On the seventeenth of 
June the centennial of Bunker Hill was 
celebrated at Charlestown. Vast crowds 
were present from all parts of the 
country. 

One of the most gratifying features 
of the celebration was the presence and 
hearty participation in the ceremonies 
of a large number of troops from the 
Southern States. Nearly all of these 
had served in the Confederate army, and 
their presence in the metropolis of New 
England was an emphatic proof that the 
Union had indeed been restored. The 
memory of the common glory won by 
the fathers of the republic did much to 
heal the wounds and obliterate the scars 
of the Civil War. 

Centennial Exhibition. 

As early as 1872 measures were set on 
foot for the proper observance of the one 
hundredth anniversary of the independ- 
dence of the United States. It was re- 
solved to commemorate the close of the 
first century of the republic by an Inter- 
national Exhibition, to be held at Phil- 
adelphia in 1876, in which all the na- 
tions of the world were invited to par- 
ticipate. Preparations were at once set 
on foot for the great celebration. 

The European governments with 
great cordiality responded to the invi- 
tations, extended to them by the gov- 
ernment of the United States, and on 
the loth of May, 1876, the International 
Centennial Exhibition was opened with 
the most imposing ceremonies in the 
presence of an immense concourse of 
citizens from all parts of the Union, and 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



107 



of the President of the United States 
and the Emperor of Bra7.ii. The exhi- 
bition remained open frcai May lOth to 
November loth, 1876, and was visited 
by more than ten million people from the 
various States of the Union, from Can- 
ada, South America and Europe. It 
was one of the grandest and most nota- 
ble events of the century, and illustra- 
ted our country's progress. 

The year 1876 was not destined to be 
entirely a period of peace. The Sioux 
Indians had ceded to the United States 



with about 250 soldiers, was surprised 
by an overwhelming force of Indians 
and he and his entire command were 
massacred. Custer's men fought with 
wonderful bravery and exacted a fear- 
ful pnce for their lives at the hands of 
the savages. The war lasted into the 
v/inter of 1877, when the Sioux witli 
their chiefs, Sitting Bull and Crazy 
Horse, went across the border into 
British territory. 

Hon. James A. Garfield was inau- 
gurated President March 4, 1881. He 




^.' 



M 



CEREMONIES AT THE OPENING OF THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. 



a large tract of country in what was 
then Dakota Territory, reserving to 
tliemselves the district known as the 
Black Hills. When it was rumored 
that gold had been found on their reser- 
vation, the whites began to rush into 
this region, regardless of the rights of 
the Indians. The Sioux were a warlike 
tribe, and they retaliatcc^ by attacking 
the frontier settlements in Montana and 
Wyoming. 

United States troops were sent against 
them, but met at first with a terrible 
rlis:ister. In June, 1 876, General Custer, 



had made plans for making a visit to 
New England, to be present at the com- 
mencement exercises of his Alma Mater, 
Williams College, in Massachusetts, 
and was to be accompanied by a distin- 
guished party, including several mem- 
bers of the Cabinet. On the morning 
of the 2d of July the party proceeded 
to the Baltimore and Potomac depot, 
where they were to take the cars, in 
advance of the President, who arrived 
soon after in company with Secretary 
Blaine, who came simply to see him 
off and say good-bye. They left the 



108 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



President's carriage together, and saun- 
tered arm-in-arm through the depot 
towards the cars. 

In passing through the ladies' waiting- 
room, the President was fired at twice 
^y a man named Charles J. Guiteau. 
4lie first shot inflicted a slight wound 
in the President's right arm, and the 
second a terrible wound in the right 
side of his back, between the hip and 



hope and despair, and was kept all the 
while in a most painful suspense. 

He was then removed to Long Branch, 
New Jersey, in the hope that sea-air 
would benefit him, and for a time there 
were renewed hopes of liis recovery, but 
on September 19th a change for the 
worst appeared, and the brave struggle 
was brought to an end. The funeral 
took place amidst universal demonstra- 




ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 



the kidney. The President fell heavily 
to the floor, and the assassin was secured 
as he was seeking to make his escape 
from the building, and was conveyed to 
a police-station, from which he was sub- 
sequently taken to prison. 

The two months following the wound- 
ing of President Garfield dragged wea- 
rily away, the patient at times showing 
symptoms of marked improvement, and 
at others experiencing dangerous re- 
lapses, The nation alternated between 



tions of sorrow throughout the country. 
On the 30th of June, 1882, the assassin 
was executed at Washington. 

Early in 189 1 active preparations were 
commenced for the appropriate celebra- 
tion of the four hundredth anniversary 
of the discovery of America by Colum- 
bus. As the centennial anniversary of 
American independence in 1876 had 
been commemorated by an international 
exposition at Philadelphia, in which 
nearly all the civilized nations of the 



.#=?c:ilt' 



/^/m-yy 




no 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



earth participated, it was resolved to 
celebrate the discovery of the New 
World by an exhibition of grander pro- 
portions, as the only suitable method of 
giving dignity to the great occasion. 
The whole country became interested in 
the project, and it was advocated with 
unanimity by the newspaper press. 

The act of Congress, which definitely 
selected Chicago as the city in which 
the Exposition should be held, and 
which fixed the dates of the celebration 
to be held in 1892, and the formal open- 
ing and closing of the Exposition in 
1893, was approved by the President of 
the United States, April 25, 1890. The 
Exposition buildings were located in 
Jackson Park. 

Dedication Ceremonies. 

The grounds and buildings were so 
nearly ready that the dedication cere- 
monies were held in October, 1892. The 
celebration in New York extended over 
several days, ending on the 12th of Oc- 
tober, and consisted of a magnificent 
military and naval parade. Vast num- 
bers of people flocked to the metropolis 
from surrounding towns, and even dis- 
tant localities, and participated in the 
festivities. 

The greatest celebration, however, 
was in Chicago, occupying several days, 
and attended by multitudes of people. 
Vice-President Morton was present, also 
the governors of a number of States, 
together with distinguished persons 
from all parts of the country, including 
/President Harrison's Cabinet, army and 
navy officers, and members of Congress. 

On Monday, the ist day of May, 1893, 
in the presence of 300,000 people, Gro- 
ver Cleveland, President of the United 
States, surrounded by the members of, 



his Cabinet, by a distinguished repre- 
sentation from lands across the seas, 
and a mighty throng of American citi- 
zens, pressed the electric button which 
set in motion the miles of shafting, the 
innumerable engines and machines, and 
the labyrinth of belting and gearing 
which made up the machinery of the 
World's Columbian Exposition. 

At the same moment a National 
salute pealed forth from the gun, the 
" Andrew Johnson, ' ' lying off" the Expo- 
sition grounds, in Lake Michigan ; 70G 
flags released from their "tops" at a 
concerted signal swung loose, and 
streamed out under the sky in scarlet, 
yellow and blue. 

In Machinery Hall a great roar arose, 
and the turrets of the building shook 
as the wheels began to turn, and a 
greater volume of sound arose from the 
throats of a concourse of people who 
thus acclaimed the opening of the grand- 
est achievement of American pluck, 
enterprise and generosity. 

President Starts Machinery. 

From the centre of the platform pro- 
per there radiated a special stand, and 
upon this were chairs for President 
Cleveland, Vice-President Stevenson, 
the Duke of Veragua and his party, and 
the higher national and local officers 
of the Fair. Immediately in the rear 
were the sections assigned to the mem- 
bers of the Diplomatic Corps, while to 
their right and left the guests of the 
occasion were arranged ; behind these 
were placed the orchestra. 

Prayer was offered by Rev. W. H. 
Milburn, D.D., Chaplain of the United 
States Senate, after which a poem, writ- 
ten by Mr. W. A. Croffutt, was read. 
Then followed addresses by the Hon. 



FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



Ill 



George R. Davis, Director-General of 
the Exposition, and President Cleve- 
land. 

As the President was conclnding the 
final sentence of his address his eyes 
wandered to the table that was close at 
his left hand. Upon this was the button, 
:lie pressure upon which was to start 
the machinery and make the openi'ng 
of the Exposition an accomplished fact. 
It rested upon a pedestal upholstered in 
navy blue and golden yellow plush, and 
on the sides of the lower tier, in silver 
letters, were the significant dates, 1492 
and 1S93. As the last words fell from 
the President's lips he pressed his finger 
upon the button. 

Hallelujah Chorus. 

This was the signal for a demonstra- 
tion difficult of imagination, and in- 
finitely more so of description. At one 
and the same instant the audience burst 
into a thundering shout, the orchestra 
pealeth forth the strains of the Hallelu- 
jah Chorus, the wheels of the great Ellis 
engine in Machinery Hall commenced to 
revolve, the electric fountains in the la- 
goon threw their torrents towards the 
sky, a flood of water gushed from the 
McMonnies Fountain and rolled back 
again into the basin, the thunder of 
artillery came from the vessels in the 
lake, the chimes in Manufacturers' Hall 
and on the German Building rang out a 
merry peal, and overhead the flags at 
the tops of the poles in front of the 
platform fell apart and revealed two 
gilded models of the ships in which 
Columbus first sailed to American 
shores. 

At the same moment also hundreds 
of flags of all nations and all colors 
were unfurled within sight of the plat- 



form. . The largest was a great " Old 
Glory," which fell into graceful folds 
from the top of the centre staff in front 
of the stand. The roof of the Manu- 
facturers' Building was gorgeous in red 
gonfalons, while the Agricultural Build- 
ing was dressed in ensigns of orange 
and white. 

It was a wonderful scene of transfor- 
mation, and amid it all cannon con- 
tinued to thunder and the crowd to 
cheer. It was fully ten minutes before 
the demonstration subsided. Then the 
band played " Americd" and the exer- 
cises were at an end. The Columbian 
Exposition was open to the nations of 
the world. It was precisely the hour 
of noon when President Cleveland 
touched the button and thus declared 
the opening an accomplished fact. 

Statistics of the Fair. 

The official time for closing the Fair 
was October 30th. The following are 
the official figures for the paid admis- 
sions to the Fair: May, 1,050,037; June 
2,675,113; July, 2,760,263; August, 
3»5i5,493; September, 4,659,871; Oc- 
tober, 6,816,435 ; making 21,477,212. 
The total admissions on passes were 
2,052,188, making a grand total of 
23,529,400. 

After every debt of the World's Fair 
was paid there remained ^1,000,000 to 
be distributed among the stockholders. 
The treasurer made this pleasant an- 
nouncement on the closing day. The 
Exposition Company paid out ^30,558,- 
849.01, or three times the amount the 
managers expected to spend when they 
commenced building the Fair. The 
gate receipts during the Exposition 
period proper were a little over ;^io,- 
000,000. 



11^ 



l^ROM 1*HE CiVit WAR 1*0 OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



Up to the last day $3,300,000 had 
been collected from concessionaries. 
The returns from those who held con- 
cession privileges was one of the big 
surprises of the Fair. Nobody was 
reckless enough to predict that that 
sum would be realized. The Paris Ex- 
position received but $80,000 from that 
source, while in 1876 the Centennial 
Exposition managers received $1,200,- 

000. 

Gold in Alaska. 

Much excitement was caused in 1897 
by the discovery of gold in Alaska. It 
was found in large quantities in the 
Yukon district. On the Klondike it 
was found in August of the year pre- 
ceding. The Canadian Government is 
sued new mining regulations, as it was 
anticipated that many persons in pur- 
suit of the yellow metal would rush to 
this region. Both from the United 
States and Canada thousands of men 
started for the Klondike. 

Many of them were ignorant of the 
country they were seeking, its severe 
climate in winter, the absence of the 
necessaries of life, and the consequence 
was that a vast amount of suffering re- 
sulted at Dawson City and other places. 



In December, 1897, a steamer left the 
gold region and arrived at Victoria, B. 
C, August 29th, 1898, with thirty-five 
miners and two hundred thousand do! 
lars in gold. Nearly one million dol- 
lars in value arrived there on the i5tL 
of July, 1899. 

General Prosperity. 

The extreme business depressic.. that 
had lasted for several years gave way in 
1898 and 1899 to great activity in all 
kinds of trade. Manufacturing interests 
revived, and some of the industries, 
especially iron and steel, received or- 
ders larger than ever before, and had 
great difficulty in meeting the demands 
made upon them. At the same time 
our exports were largely increased and 
the balance of trade with other coun- 
tries was in our favor. 

The Spanish-American War did not 
seriously affect the prosperity of the 
country, which was greater than that 
of any previous period of our history 
This had a quieting effect upon the 
laboring classes, and there were few 
sharp conflicts between capital and 
labor, as in nearly all the industries 
wages were advanced. 



CHAPTER VIII 




The Spanish-American War. 



v^ 



NDER the lead- 
ership of a band 
of brave pa- 
triots an insur- 
rection broke 
out in Cuba 
early in 1895. 
It was simply a 
continuation of 
the struggle for independence which 
had been going on at intervals for many 
years. Cuban revolutionists were bat- 
tling to throw oflf the yoke of Spain. 

When our Congress was in session in 
the winter of 1897-98 Cuba's struggle I 
for freedom occupied its attention more 
than any other topic. The Spanish 
General Weyler ordered all the inhabi- 
tants of Cuba who were suspected of 
sympathizing with the insurgents into 
the towns, where they were left to ob- 
tain the necessaries of life as best they 
could. This act, which was pronounced 
inhuman by the American people, re- 
sulted in the death of tens of thousands 
of men, women and children by starva- 
tion. Meanwhile, accurate reports of 
the appalling situation in Cuba were 
brought by several members of Con- 
gress who visited the island with a view 
to ascertaining the exact facts. 

These reports so inflamed the Sen- 
ate and House of Representatives that 
a number of resolutions were intro- 
duced demanding that belligerent rights 
should be granted to the Cubans, and 
further, that the United States should 
intervene with force of arms to end the 
war in Cuba, and secure the indepen- 
dence of the island. These resolutions, 
8 



which were referred to the committee 
on foreign relations, were indicative of 
the temper of Congress. 

A profound sensation was created by 
the destruction of the United States 
battleship Maine in the harbor of Ha- 
vana. The Maine was lying in harbor, 
having been sent to Cuba on a friendly 
visit. On the evening of February 15, 
1898, a terrific explosion took place on 
board the ship, by which 266 sailors 
and officers lost their lives and the ves- 
sel was wrecked. The cause of the ex- 
plosion was not apparent. 

Destruction of the Maine. 

The Government at Washington and 
the whole country were horrified at the 
destruction of one of our largest cruiseis 
and the loss of so many of our braye 
sailors. The excitement throughout 
the country was intense. The chief 
interest in the Maine disaster now cen- 
tered upon the cause of the explosion 
that so quickly sent her to the bottom 
of Havana harbor. 

A Naval Board of Inquiry went to 
Havana, and proceeded promptly to in- 
vestigate the cause of the explosion 
that destroyed the battleship. The 
finding of the Coiirt of Inquiry was 
reached after twenty-three days of con- 
tinuous labor, and was submitted to 
Congress by President McKinley with 
a message in which he said : 

"The conclusions of the Court are: 
That the loss of the Maine was not in 
any respect due to fault or negligence 
on the part of any of the officers or 
memb'^^s of her crew. 

113 



114 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



"That the ship was destroyed by the 
explosion of a submarine mine, which 
caused the partial explosion of two or 
more of her forward magazines ; and 

"That no evidence has been obtain- 
able fixing the responsibility for the de- 
struction of the Maine upon any person 
or persons. 

" I have directed that the finding of 
the Court of Inquiry and the views of 
this Government thereon be communi- 
cated to the Government of her Majesty, 
the Queen Regent, and I do not permit 
myself to doubt that the sense of jus- 
tice of the Spanish nation will dictate 
a course of action suggested by honor 
and the friendly relations of the two 
governments. 

" It will be the duty of the Executive 
to advise the Congress of the result, and 
in the meantime deliberate considera- 
tion is invoked." 

Message from the President. 

Following the destruction of the bat- 
tleship Maine, which profoundly stirred 
the whole country with indignation. 
President McKinley sent a message to 
Congress containing the following re- 
quest : " I ask the Congress to author- 
ize and empower the President to take 
measures to secure a full and final ter- 
mination of hostilities between the Gov- 
ernment of Spain and the people of 
Cuba, and to secure in the island the 
establishment of a stable government 
capable of maintaining order and ob- 
serving its international obligations, 
ensuring peace and tranquillity and the 
security of its citizens as well as our 
own, and to use the military and naval 
forces of the United States as may be 
necessary for these purposes." 

Congress debated a week over the 



recommendations contained in the Pre- 
sident's message, and on April i8th 
both Houses united in passing a series 
of resolutions calling for the interven- 
tion of the United States to compel 
Spain to withdraw her forces from Cuba, 
and thus permit the authorities at Wash- 
ington to provide the Island with a free 
and independent government. The de- 
mand contained in the resolutions was 
sent to the Spanish Minister at Wash- 
ington on April 20th, who at once called 
for his passports and left for Canada. 

On the same date the ultimatum of 
our Government was sent to United 
States Minister Woodford, at Madrid, 
who was curtly handed his passports 
before he had an opportunity of formally 
presenting the document. These trans- 
actions involved a virtual declaration of 
war, although Congress did not for- 
mally declare that war actually existed 
until April 25 th, dating the time back 
to the 2 1 St. 

The War Begins. 

The North Atlantic Squadron was 
immediately ordered to blockade the 
Cuban ports, and on April 22d pro- 
ceeded to carry out the order. The 
next day President McKinley promul- 
gated a resolution calling for 125,000 
volunteers. On the same date Morro 
Castle, commanding the harbor of Ha- 
vana, fired on the United States flag- 
ship New York, but without doing 
damage. Subsequent events comprised 
the capture of a number of Spanish 
vessels by Admiral Sampson's squadron. 

Stirring news from our Asiatic fleet 
was soon received. On May ist Admiral 
Dewey destroyed the Spanish squadron 
in the harbor of Manila, Philippine Is- 
lands, capturing the vessels and inflict- 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



115 



ing a heavy loss on the enemy in killed 
and wounded. 

The American vessels were the Olym- 
pia, 5,800 tons, a swift commerce de- 
stroyer, carrying four terrible eight-inch 
guns and ten deadly five-inch quick- 
firers ; the Baltimore scarcely less form- 
lidable than the Olympia, with four 
ei eh t-inch 



guns and six 
six-inch rapid- 
firers; the Bos- 
ton, smaller 
than the Olym- 
pia and Balti- 
more, but still 
a real and pow- 
erful floating 
fort, with her 
two eight-inch 
guns and her 
six six-inch 
rapid-firers; 
the Raleigh, 
similar to the 
Boston, with 
one six-inch 
and ten five- 
inch guns ; the 
Concord, with 
six six-inch 
guns ; the gun- 
boat Petrel, 
with five six- 
inch guns. To 
the rear of 
these the transport ships, 
ammunition and 
wounded. 

On came the American fleet until it 
was within about three miles of Manila, 
and then a Spanish gun on the battery 
at the end of the Mole spoke ; but the 
shot fell short. Then from the Spanish 



fleet, steaming slowly up from Cavite, 
came several shots at the American fleet. 
The two duelists were now face to face. 
The Spanish ships were of older pat- 
terns, rather than smaller, and were far 
more numerous. There were the Reina 
Cristina, of 3,090 tons, with six six-inch 
and two three-inch guns ; the Castilla, 




MANILA HARBOR— SCENE OF THE GREAT BATTLE. 



with coal, 
accommodations for 



with four six-inch guns ; the smaller 
cruisers Velasco, Don Juan de Austria 
and Don Antonio de Ulloa, besides ten 
gunboats. Then there were the batteries 
on shore all along the low peninsula. 

To get the full effect of all of these 
guns the Spaniards formed so that the 
Americans would have to face not only 



116 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



all the guns afloat, but also all the guns 
on shore at Cavite, while from the rear 
the strong batteries of Manila could, per- 
haps, send aiding shots. When the 
American manoeuverings brought their 
ships within range, at about 6.45, the 
real duel began. The Spanish fleet stood 
ready, flanked by the Cavite batteries 
on the south. 

The American fleet began to steam 
languidly to and fro. Suddenly there 
were one or two sharp cracks, and then 
a succession of deafening roars, and then 
one long, reverberating roar, that 
boomed and bellowed from shore to 
shore. A huge cloud of smoke lay close 
upon the waters, and around it was a 
penumbra of thick haze. 

Floating Batteries. 

Through this the American ships 
could be seen moving, now slowly, now 
more rapidly, flames shooting from their 
sides, and answering flames leaping from 
the Spanish ships and land batteries, 
while now and then from the direction 
of Manila came hollow rumbles as the 
big guns there were discharged, more 
from eagerness to take part than from 
the hope of lending effective aid. 

It was impossible to see from shore 
the effect of many of the shots, but from 
the fact that the American ships were 
alternately advancing and retreating in 
the course of their manoeuverings, the 
Spaniards on shore got the impression 
that the Yankees were being beaten. 
When the ships were again seen, the 
Reina Cristina was wrapped in flames. 
On her decks sailors, Spaniards and 
natives, were rushing frantically about. 
The Isla de Cuba came near, and part 
of the Reina Cristina's crew — perhaps 
all that were still alive — and the Spanish 



Admiral went aboard her, but hardly 
were they aboard when she, too, burst 
into flarwes. 

Confusion now reigned throughout 
the Spanish fleet. On every vessel the 
decks were slippery with blood and the 
air filled with the shrieks and groans of 
the Spaniards. The native sailors rushed 
about in a frenzy of rage rather than 
terror. The Americans were seemingly 
calm and cool, and still in good order 
they pressed their advantage. In fact, 
they pushed on too closely, for now the 
fire from the Cavite batteries became 
effective. 

Blown Skyward. 

At this juncture the Don Juan de 
Austria became a centre of interest. 
She had been in the very front of battle 
and received, perhaps, more of the Amer- 
ican shots than any other ship. Ad- 
miral Montojo, on the burning Isla de 
Cuba, threw up his arms with a gesture 
of despair as a heavy roar came from 
the Don Juan de Austria and part of 
her deck flew up in the air, taking with 
it scores of dead, dying and mangled. 
A shot had penetrated one of her maga- 
zines. She was ruined and sinking, but 
her crew refused to leave her. Weeping, 
cursing, praying and firing madly and 
blindly they went down with her, and 
as the Don Juan de Austria went down 
the Castilla burst into flames. 

The remainder of the Spanish fleet 
now turned and fled down the long, 
narrow inlet behind Cavite. Several of 
the gun-boats were run ashore, others 
fled up a small creek and were grounded 
there. The guns of Cavite kept on 
thundering, and the Americans, press- 
ing their advantage no further, drew off". 
As they steamed away toward their 




SECTIONAL VIEW OF A BATTLESHIP, SHOWING THE TURRET 
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M. GUIGLIELMO MARCONI 

DISCOVERER AND INVENTOR OF THE WIRELES"^ TELEGRAPH 



TKE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



iir 



waiting transports the Spaniards went 
wild with joy. 

They thought that in spite of out- 
ward appearances the American fleet was 
crippled, and that as it would be una- 
ble tc escape from the harbor it would 
fall into their hands. This was tele- 
graphed up to Manila, and soon to 
Madrid, where it filled the Ministry 
with momentary delight; but before 
the Ministers at Madrid had read the 
false news, the American fleet, with 
decks again cleared and with fresh sup- 
plies of ammunition was steaming back 
toward Cavite. 

Dewey Made Admiral. 

This second engagement was short. 
The last Spanish ship was soon grounded 
or sunk. The American guns were now 
trained on Cavite, and one ship after 
another steamed along pouring in a 
deadly fire. At 11.30 the batteries at 
Cavite ceased to answer, and the Ameri- 
can fleet with ringing cheers from its ex- 
hausted, but triumphant crews steamed 
jubilantly back to the transport ships. 
And to the long list of splendid naval 
victories beginning with the Revolu- 
tion was added the glorious victory of 
Manila. 

In honor of his distinguished service 
Commodore Dewey was raised to the 
rank of Admiral, and Congress passed 
a series of resolutions thanking him 
and his men for services rendered their 
country, and voted a medal to every 
man of the fleet. Dewey's victory was 
gained without the loss of a single life. 

On May nth Ensign Bagley, of the 
torpedo boat Winslow, and five men 
were killed, and five others were wounded 
in Cardenas harbor, on the northern 
coast of Cuba, in an engagement with 



Spanish gunboats. The Americans dis- 
played great bravery in the face of dan- 
ger, the action of the United States 
gunboat Hudson being especially nota- 
ble in going to the rescue of the Win- 
slow, and towing her out of range of 
the enemy's fire. Ensign Bagley was 
the first to lose his life in the war. 

It was known that Spain had sent a 
formidable fleet under Admiral Cervera 
to operate in the waters around Cuba, 
but for several weeks the officers of our 
North Atlantic Squadron were unable 
to locate the Spanish ships, or tell their 
exact destination. On' May 19th the 
long suspense occasioned by the diffi- 
culty of ascertaining what Admiral 
Cervera intended to do with his fleet 
was over, and it was definitely known 
that his vessels were entraped in the 
harbor of Santiago. 

Hurrying Troops Forward. 

The Government resolved to send 
troops at once to that point to aid the 
fleet in capturing the town. While it 
was known that the Spanish vessels 
were inside the harbor of Santiago it 
was considered impossible for our bat- 
tleships to enter the harbor on account 
of mines which had been planted, and 
the formidable attack sure to be made 
by batteries on shore. 

The entrance to the harbor of San- 
tiago is very narrow, and vessels are 
compelled at one point to go through a 
channel not much over three hundred 
feet wide. Here occurred on the morn- 
ing of June 3d one of the most gallant 
acts recorded in the annals of naval 
warfare. Lieutenant Hobson, naval 
constructor, on the flagship of Admiral 
Sampson, conceived the plan of block- 
ing this narrow entrance by sinking the 



118 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



collier Merrimac, thus "bottling up" 
Cervera and his fleet. 

When it became known that he was 
about to enter upon this daring under- 
taking and would need a few brave 
spirits to aid him, every man apparently 
of the whole fleet was anxious to form 
one of the party. Only six, however, 
were chosen and these were men as 
brave and adventurous as Hobson him- 
self. 

The collier was prepared for sinking, 
and early in the morning about daylight 
she started on her mission, accompanied 
by a launch mainned by Ensign Powell 
and six other men, who were to rescue 
the crew of the Merrimac when she 
went down. Thousands of eyes from 
our ships were strained to watch the 
progress of the undertaking. Suddenly 
the Spanish batteries on shore opened 
fire on the daring craft. 

Fate of the Gallant Crew. 

Lying closer in than the warships, 
Powell had seen the firing when the 
Merrimac and her crew, then well in- 
side Morro Castle, were probably first 
discovered by the Spaniards. He also 
heard an explosion, which may have 
been caused by Hobson' s torpedoes. 
The Ensign was not sure. He waited 
vainly, hoping to rescue the heroes of 
the Merrimac, until he was shelled out 
by the forts. 

The work, however, was done. The 
big vessel had been swung across the 
narrow entrance to the harbor, the tor- 
pedoes had been fired, the explosion had 
come, the great collier was sinking at 
jv.st the right point ; and her gallant 
crew, having jumped into the water to 
save their lives, were taken on board 
the flagship of the Spanish Admiral, 



who praised their bravery, and sent an 
officer under flag of truce to assure Ad- 
miral Sampson that the heroic band 
was safe and would be well cared for. 
Spanish chivalry was forced to admira- 
tion. 

By the end of June the army that oui j 
Government had ordered to Cuba had 
arrived, General Shaffer being in com- 
mand. The number of troops was about 
16,000, including officers, and sailed 
from Tampa, Florida, June 1 3th, arriv- 
ing at Santiago on the 20th. 

Rough Riders in Battle. 

It was not long after General Shaffer's 
army landed before the United States 
troops were engaged in active service 
and had a sharp conflict with the enemy. 
The initial fight of Colonel Wood's 
famous regiment, known as the Rough 
Riders, and the troopers of the First 
and Tenth regular cavalry was at La 
Quasi na. That it did not end in the 
complete slaughter of the Americans 
was not due to any miscalculation in 
the plan of the Spaniards, for all the 
advantages of position were in their 
favor. For an hour and a half our troops 
held their ground under a perfect storm 
of bullets from the front and sides, and 
then Colonel Wood, at the right, and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt at the left, 
led a charge which turned the tide of 
battle and sent the enemy flying over 
the hills toward Santiago. 

The American officers showed the ut- 
most energy in preparing for the attack 
on Santiago; by July ist everything wa:^ 
in readiness, and General Shaffer or- 
dered a forward movement with a view 
of investing and capturing the town. 
The advance was made in two divisions, 
the left storming the works at San Juan. 



THB SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



119 



Our torces in this assault were composed 
of the Rough Riders and the First, 
Third, Sixth, Ninth and Tenth dis- 
mounted cavalry. Catching the enthu- 
siasm and boldness of the Rough Riders, 
these men rushed against the San Juan 
defences with a fury that was irresistible. 
Their fierce assault was met by the 
Spaniards with a stubbornness born of 
desperation. Hour after hour tlie troops 
on both sides fought fiercely. In the 
early morning the Rough Riders met 
with a similar, though less costly, expe- 
rience to the one they had at La Quasina 
just a week before. They found them- 
selves a target for a terrific Spanish fire, 
to resist which for a time was the work 
of madmen. But the Rough Riders 
did not flinch. Fighting like demons, 
they held their ground tenaciously, now 
pressing forward a few feet, then falling 
back, under the enemy's fire, to the po- 
sition they held a few moments before. 

Cowboys and "Dandies." 

The Spaniards were no match for the 
Roosevelt fighters, however, and, as had 
been the case at La Quasina, the West- 
ern cowboys and Eastern "dandies" 
hammered the enemy from their path. 
Straight ahead they advanced, until by 
noon they were well along toward San 
Juan, the capture of which was their 
immediate object. 

There was terrible fighting about the 
heights during the next two hours. 
While the Rough Riders were playing 
such havoc in the enemy's lines, the 
First, Third, Sixth, Ninth and Tenth 
cavalry gallantly pressed forward to 
right and left. Before the afternoon 
was far gone these organizations made 
one grand rush all along the line, cap- 
turing- the San Juan fortifications, and 



sending the enemy in mad haste off 
toward Santiago. It was but three 
o'clock when these troops were able to 
send word to General Shaffer that they 
had taken possession of the position he 
had given them a day to capture. 

Carried by Storm. 

On the right General Lawton's divi- 
sion, supported by Van Home's brigade, 
under command temporarily of Colonel 
Ludlow, of the Engineers, drove the 
enemy from in front of Caney, forcing 
them back into the village. There the 
Spaniards for a time were able to hold 
tlieir own, but early in the afternoon 
the American troops stormed the vil- 
lage defences, driving the enemy out 
and taking possession of the place. 
Gaining the direct road into Santiago, 
they established their lines within three- 
quarters of a mile of the city at sunset. 

General Shaffer's advance against the 
city of Santiago was resumed soon after 
daybreak on the morning of July 2d, 
The American troops renewed the at- 
tack on the Spanish defences with im- 
petuous enthusiasm. They were not 
daunted by the heavy losses sustained 
in the first day's fighting. Inspired by 
the great advantages they had gained 
on the preceding day, the American 
troops were eager to make the final 
assault on the city itself. Their ad- 
vance had been an uninterrupted series 
of successes, they having forced the 
Spaniards to retreat from each new posi- 
tion as fast as it had been taken. Ad- 
miral Sampson, with his entire fleet, 
joined in the attack. 

The battles before the intrenchments 
around Santiago resulted in advantage 
to General Shaffer's army. Gradually 
he approached tW citv, holdino^ every 



120 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



foot of ground gained. In the fighting 
of July 2d, the Spanish were forced 
back into the town, their commanding 
general was wounded, and the day 
closed with the certainty that soon our 
flag would float over Santiago. 

The fleet of Admiral Cerverahad long 
been shut up in the harbor, and during 
the two days' fighting gave effective aid 




INTERNATIONAL SIGNAL CODE. 

to the Spanish infantry by throwing 
shells into the ranks of the Americans. 
On the morning of July 3d, another 
great naval victory was added to the 
'successes of the American arms, a vic- 
tory no less complete and memorable 
than that achieved by Dewey at Manila. 
Admiral Cervera's fleet, consisting of 
the armored cruisers Cristobal Colon, 
Almirante Oquendo, Infanta Maria Te- 



resa, and Vizcaya, and two torpedo-boat 
destroyers, the Furor and the Pluton, 
which had been held in the harbor of 
Santiago de Cuba for six weeks by the 
combined squadrons of Rear-Admirals 
Sampson and Schley, was sent to the 
bottom of the Caribbean Sea off" the 
southern coast of Cuba. 

Tlie Spanish admiral was made a 
prisoner of war on the auxiliary gun- 
boat Gloucester, and 1,000 to 1,500 
other Spanish officers and sailors, all 
who escaped the frightful carnage 
caused by the shells from the American 
warships, were also made prisoners oC 
war by the United States navy. The 
American victory was complete, and 
the American vessels were practically 
untouched, and only one man was 
killed, though the ships were subjected 
to the heavy fire of the Spaniards all 
the time the battle lasted. 

The Admiral's Bravery. 

Admiral Cervera made as gallant a 
dash for liberty and for the preservation 
of the ships as has ever occurred in the 
history of naval warfare. In the face 
of overwhelming odds, with nothing 
before him but inevitable destruction 
or surrender if he remained any longer 
in the trap in which the American fleet 
held him, he made a bold dash from 
the harbor at the time the Americans 
least expected him to do so, and, fight- 
ing every inch of his way, even when 
his ship was ablaze and sinking, he 
tried to escape the doom which was 
written on the muzzle of every Ameri- 
can gun trained upon his vessels. 

One after another of the Spanish 
ships became the victims of the awful 
rain of shells which the American bat- 
tleships, cruisers and gun-boats poured 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



121 



upon them, and two hours after the first 
of the fleet had started out of Santiago 
harbor three cruisers and two torpedo- 
boat destroyers were lying on the shore 
ten to fifteen miles west of Morro Cas- 
tle, pounding to pieces, smoke and 
flame pouring from every part of them 
and covering the entire coast line with 
a mist which could be seen for miles. 

Heavy explosions of ammunition oc- 
curred every few minutes, sending curls 
of dense white smoke a hundred feet in 
the air, and causing a shower of broken 
iron and steel to fall in the water on 
every side. The bluffs on the coast 
line echoed with the roar of every ex- 
plosion, and the Spanish vessels sank 
deeper and deeper into the sand, or else 
the rocks ground their hulls to pieces 
as they rolled or pitched forward or 
sideways with every wave that washed 
upon them from the open sea. 

Total Destruction. 

Admiral Cervera escaped to the shore 
m a boat sent by the Gloucester to the 
assistance of the Infanta Maria Teresa, 
and as soon as he touched the beach he 
surrendered himself and his command 
to Lieutenant Morton, and asked to be 
taken on board the Gloucester, which 
was the only American vessel near him 
at the time, with several of his officers, 
including the captain of the flagship. 
The Spanish admiral, who was wounded 
in the arm, was taken to the Gloucester, 
and was received at her gangway by her 
commander, Lieutenant Richard Wain- 
wright, who grasped the hand of the 
gray-bearded admiral and said to him : 

" I congratulate you, sir, upon hav- 
ing made as gallant a fight as was ever 
witnessed on the sea." 

The only casualties in the American 



fleet were one man killed and two 
wounded on the Brooklyn. A large 
number of the Spanish wounded were 
removed to the American ships. 

General Toral, commander of the 
Spanish forces at Santiago, was sum- 
moned to surrender, and after much 
parleying yielded to General Shaffer's 
demands on July 14th. The formal 
surrender took place on the 17th, and 
the American flag was hoisted over the 
city. By this victory 25,000 Spanish 
troops and officers in the province of 
Santiago became prisoners of war, and 
through the generosity of our govern- 
ment were afterwards sent back to 
Spain. 

It was understood that our Govern- 
ment would begin military operations 
for the purpose of capturing the island 
of Porto Rico immediately after the fall 
of Santiago, and on July 21st an expe- 
dition under General Miles, Comman- 
der-in-chief of the American army, ac- 
companied by transports and a naval 
convoy, sailed from Siboney on the 
southern coast of Cuba. 

Our Army in Porto Rico. 

General Miles landed his forces on 
July 25th at Guanica, Porto Rico. He 
encountered but little opposition, al- 
though there were several sharp skir- 
mishes with the Spanish troops who 
were occupying various points as garri- 
sons. On July 27th Ponce surrendered 
to General Miles, and on the 28th the 
capitulation was formally effected. 

Our troops advanced northward across 
the island and soon occupied the im- 
portant town of San Juan. Thus the 
island was peacefully subdued, and with 
but little bloodshed. A military gov- 
ernment was afterwards established, 



122 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



which was intended to pave the way for 
a civil government that should promote 
the peace and welfare of the inhabitants. 

The Department of State at Washing- 
ton, on the afternoon of August 2d, is- 
sued a statement announcing officially 
the President's terms of peace, which 
were handed to the French Ambassador 
Canibon, acting representative of the 
Spanish government at Washington. 
They were that Spanish sovereignty 
must be forever relinquished in the 
Western Indies ; that the United States 
should have a coaling station in the 
Ivadrones, and that this country would 
occupy Manila's bay and harbor, as well 
as the city, pending the determination 
of the control, disposition and govern- 
ment of the Philippines, 

The announcement on August 7th, 
from Madrid, that the Spanish Ministry 
had formally decided to accept the pro- 
position of the United States for a peace 
convention relieved the anxiety that was 
felt for a definite decision. 

Attack on Manila. 

Messages were immediately sent to all 
army and navy commanders announcing 
that the war was ended and ordering 
them to cease hostilities. Before the 
message reached Manila Admiral Dewey 
and General Merritt resolved to capture 
the city. The warships bombarded the 
forts on August 13th, and the land forces 
at the same time made an attack. After 
a spirited resistance by the - Spaniards 
they surrendered, knowing it was use- 
less to longer resist. 

The fortifications and shore defences 
and part of the city itself were destroyed 
by American shot and shell during a 
terrific bombardment of two hours by 
the eight ghips of Admiral Dewey's 



fleet. The Americans killed lost their 
lives in storming the Spanish trenches, 
when they swept everything before them 
like a whirlwind. 

At 9.30 o'clock the signal to open fire 
fluttered from the signal lines of the 
Olympia. The flags were scarcely set 
when there was a roar from the big 
guns of the flagship herself. Instantly 
all the other vessels opened and a shower 
of steel missiles sped toward the doomed 
city. At the same time along the line 
of the American intrenchments the field 
guns opened on the Spanish position, 
and the American infantry were massed 
in the intrenchments ready for the final 
assault. 

Enemy Swept Like Chaff. 

With a cheer the Americans sprang 
from their trenches and dashed for the 
Spanish earthworks. The First Colo- 
rado Volunteers were in the van. A 
deadly fire was poured in from the 
heights occupied by the Spaniards, and 
it was this that caused the American 
losses. But the men never hesitated. 
They swept the enemy from the outer 
line of intrenchments to the second line 
of defence. This was at once attacked, 
and from there the Spaniards were 
driven into the walled city. Then the 
Spanish commander saw that further 
resistance was useless, and he sent up a 
white flag. The bombardment was at 
once stopped, and soon afterward the 
American forces entered the city. Gen- 
eral Merritt assumed command and tem- 
porarily restored the civil laws. 

On August 24th it was announced that 
the following American Peace Commis- 
sioners to settle the future of the PhilijD- 
pine Islands had been selected by Pres- 
ident McKiniey : William R. Day, of 



i 

1 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



123 



Canton, Ohio, Secretary of State ; Cusli- 
man K. Davis, United States Senator 
from Minnesota, Chairman of the For- 
eign Relations Committee ; William P. 
Frye, United States Senator from Maine, 
member of the Foreign Relations Com- 
mittee ; Whitelaw Reid, of New York, 
for several years American Ambassador 
to the French Republic, and 
George Gray, United States Sen- 
ator from Delaware, The sessions 
of the Peace Commission were to be 
held in Paris, commencing not later 
than October ist, and continuing until 
an agreement was reached. 

The Commissioners met in Paris at 
the appointed time, and at once began 
their labors. Reports from time to 
time indicated that serious disagree- 
ments had developed, and it was even 
rumored that it would be impossible to 
reach an agreement that would satisfy 
both parties. The result, however, 
proved the contrary, and on the 28th of 
November, 1898, 
they reached an 
agreement respect- 
ing the terms for 

establishing peace between the two na- 
tions. 

The Spanish Commissioners were 
compelled to yield to the force of cir- 
cumstances, to realize the hopelessness 
of further opposition and to accept the 
inevitable. In other words, the title of 
the United States to the possession of 
a vast colonial territory was confirmed 
and ratified at the meeting of the Joint 
Commission in Paris on the above date. 

This territory includes Porto Rico, 
the Island of Guam, and the Philippine 
archipelago, considered in its broadest 
geographical sense — that is, comprising 
the Sulu Islands. At the same time 



the Spanish sovereignty over Cuba was 
also relinquished. 

The treaty of peace was signed at 8.45 
on the evening of December 10, 1898. 
The treaty consisted of seventeen arti- 
cles, it having been found advisable to 
subdivide some of the articles in the draft 
agreed upon at the last meeting. The 











EUGENIC MONTERO RIOS. 

B, DE ABARAZUZA. 

J. DE GARNICA. 

V^. R. DE VILLI-URRUTIA. 

RAFAEL CERERO. 

signatures of the American Commis- 
sioners and the names of the Commis- 
sioners acting for Spain were appended. 
The treaty of peace was ratified in the 
executive session of the United States 
Senate, February 6th, by a vote of 57 to 
27, the supporters of the treaty muster- 
ing but a single vote more than the 
necessary two-thirds. There was no 



124 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



doubt whatever that the Spanish Cortes 
would ratify the treaty, and the war 
with Spain was therefore concluded. 

The long agitation in Congress and 
throughout the country concerning the 
peace treaty was over, and the way was 
prepared for Congress to adopt such 
measures as it might see fit for the future 
government of the Philippine Islands. 
The debate in the Senate had been very 
able, and for some time the result was 
in doubt. Efforts were made to pass a 
resolution declaring that it was not the 
policy of the United States to acquire 
possession of the Islands and make them 
a part of the territory of the United 
States. 

The insurgent army of Aguinaldo, 
which had resolutely maintained its 
position near Manila after the town was 
surrendered by the Spaniards to the 
American soldiers and sailors, made a 
fierce attack on the American lines on 
the evening of February 4, 1 899. 

Insurgents Driven Back. 

Defeated in a desperate effort to break 
through the American lines and enter 
the city of Manila, the insurgent forces, 
after fourteen hours of continuous fight- 
ing, were driven from the villages of 
Santa Anna, Paco and Santa Mesa. 
They were compelled to retreat to a 
position quite a distance further out in 
the suburbs than the one they held be- 
fore attacking the city. 

The losses of the insurgents were 
heavy, the American troops having 
gone into the engagement with great 
enthusiasm and determination. They 
made the streets of the city ring with 
their cheers when they were notified of 
the attack and were ordered to advance. 
Several of the vessels in Admiral Dew- 



ey's squadron participated in the fight, 
firing on the natives in ' Malate and 
Caloocan, and driving them inland from 
both of these places and inflicting heavy 
losses. 

Aguinaldo' s forces were completely 
routed and driven from six to ten miles 
beyond the positions they occupied 
when the battle began. On February 
loth a force of 6,000 insurgents that had 
gathered at Caloocan was attacked by 
the Americans and defeated with heavy 
loss. On February i itli Iloilo was cap- 
tured by General Miller and the force 
under his command, aided by the war- 
ships Petrel and Baltimore. No casu- 
alties resulted to our troops. 

Peace Treaty Signed. 

During February Negros and Cebu, 
two important islands of the Philippine 
group, announced that they were ready 
to submit to the authority of the United 
States. 

On Friday, March 17th, the Queen 
Regent of Spain signed the treaty of 
peace, which was forwarded to the 
French Ambassador at Washington, M. 
Jules Cambon, for exchange with the 
one signed by President McKinley. 

Malolos, the insurgent capital, was 
captured on the morning of March 31st 
by the American troops, after a hot 
fight. The most brilliant exploit and 
the winning of the greatest American 
victory in the battles around Manila 
occurred on the 27th. The taking of 
the bridge over the Rio Grande at Cal- 
umpit was a deed of astonishing daring. 
It was the most strongly defended posi- 
tion held by the insurgents. Located 
on the north shore of the Rio Grande, 
opposite Calumpit, it is the most valu- 
able strategic point in Luzon. The fact 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



125 



that it was guarded by the most trust- 
worthy and best disciplined regiments 
of General Aguinaldo made the feat 
more noteworthy. Army officers said 
the daring displayed by the American 
troops was almost unparalleled in the 
annals of modern warfare. 

It was a notable day for the Twentieth 
Regiment of Kansas Volunteers, com- 
manded by Colonel Funston. One hun- 
dred and twenty men belonging to that 
regiment crossed the river in the face 
of a deadly fire from 3,000 insurgent 
Mausers. This torrent of bullets was 
augmented by a fusillade of a Maxim 
gun, of which the insurgents had ob- 
tained possession. It was in this battle 
that Colonel Funston made himself 
famous by dashing forward with only 
nine men and charging the trenches 
which were manned by hundreds of in- 
surgents. They were thrown into a panic 
by this daring feat and put to rout. 

Desperate Resistance. 

General Lawton's forces had an all- 
day battle with the insurgents at Las 
Pinas on June 13th. He called out his 
whole force of 3,000, and at 5 o'clock 
was only able to push the insurgents 
back 500 yards to the Zapote River, 
where they were intrenched. The in- 
surgents resisted desperately and aggres- 
sively. They attempted to turn the left 
flank of the American troops, but failed. 
By this desperate battle the insurgents 
lost a district which they superstitiously 
believed to be invulnerable against any 
attack of their enemies, it having been 
the scene of many former victories over 
the Spaniards. 

The greatest public demonstration 
in honor of any individual in the his- 
tory of our country took place in New 



York upon the return of Admiral Dewey 
from his great victory in the harbor of 
Manila. The Admiral arrived on the 
26th of September, 1899, and was warmly 
greeted by city and state officials. As 
his flagship, the Olympia, came int' 
the harbor, she was received with nois> 
demonstrations, and a multitude of peo- 
ple, on land and water, testified in every 
possible way, their admiration for Ad- 
miral Dewey. 

Grand Naval Spectacle. 

On the 29th, there was a naval pa- 
rade that was participated in by the 
North Atlantic squadron, and a vast 
number of vessels all gaily decked. It 
was the most imposing naval spectacle 
ever witnessed on this continent. Hun- 
dreds of thousands of interested specta- 
tors lined the shores, from the Battery 
to Grant's tomb on the Hudson, and 
cheered our battleships and other naval 
vessels. 

On the 30th there was a land parade in 
which 30,000 soldiers and civilians par- 
ticipated. Admiral Dewey was escorted 
first to the City Hall where he was pre- 
sented by the Municipal Government 
with a loving cup in the presence of a 
vast throng of people. Thence he was 
escorted to Riverside Drive, and from 
there made his way through a vast con- 
course of applauding people to the arch 
erected in his honor at Twenty-fourth 
Street and Fifth Avenue, where he re- 
viewed the parade. Many state gover- 
nors, their escorts and a large number 
of city and state officials were in the 
parade, and all attempts to describe the 
enthusiasm of the populace would fail. 

It was a memorable day in the his- 
tory of the United States, as it showed 
the patriotic feeling of the people and 



126 



THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 



their admiration tor the famous hero of 
the Spanish war. 

From New York the Admiral made 
his way to Washington, where he again 
met with a most cordial reception, and 
on the 3d of October was presented with 
a sword that had been voted in his 
honor by Congress. An immense con- 
course of people surrounded the Capitol, 
on the steps of which the Admiral took 
his stand and was welcomed in an elo- 
quent speech by Hon. John D. Long, 
Secretary of the Navy. 

A Sword for the Admiral. 

President McKinley then presented 
the Admiral with the diamond sword 
He made a brief and graceful reply, 
thanking Congress and the American 
people for the distinguished considera- 
tion that had been shown him. Other 
receptions to the Admiral followed, all 
of which showed the appreciation of 
the public and gave evidence of the 
very high esteem in which he was held 
for his bravery, his adherence to duty 
and his gallant exploit at Manila. 

From Washington the Admiral went 
to his native town of Montpelier, Ver- 
mont, receiving on the way a continu- 
ous ovation. The celebration lasted 
two days and drew people from all parts 
of the Green Mountain State. On Oc- 
tober 13th Dewey laid the corner-stone 
of a new building to be named Dewey 
Hall in connection with the military 
school which he attended in early life. 
On the same day he arrived in Boston, 
•where the town was gayly decorated 
and great preparations were made for 
his reception. The demonstration here 
was no less cordial and unanimous than 
elsewhere. 

The following day 25,000 school chil- 



dren welcomed the Admiral on the Com- 
mon with the waving of flags and the 
singing of patriotic songs. The enthu- 
siasm which greeted him upon his ar- 
rival at the City Hall equaled that which 
he received on the Common. His car- 
riage drew up at the entrance to the 
City Hall, and the Admiral at once as- 
cended the stand erected in front of the 
building, which was decorated in bunt- 
ing and evergreens. 

Boston's Hearty Welcome. 

By the stand at City Hall 280 trained 
singers from the Handel and Haydn So- 
ciety were seated. As the Admiral and 
his party appeared upon the stand the 
society sang, "See the Conquering 
Hero Comes," to which the Admiral 
listened, chapeau in hand, and at the 
close of which he stepped forward and 
acknowledged the reception with re- 
peated bows. The action called forth a 
great wave of cheers, which Mayor 
Quincy, arising, checked with uplifted 
hand. The Mayor then delivered the 
address of presentation to the distin- 
guished guest, who remained seated, at 
the Mayor's suggestion. In his address 
Mayor Quincy characterized the battle 
of Manila Bay as "the greatest since 
Trafalgar." 

At the State House the Admiral and 
Governor Wolcott and staff left the line 
and took up a position on the State 
House steps, where they remained while 
the parade passed in review on its way 
to the Common, where the colors carried 
by those regiments which were in the 
Spanish War, were formally surren- 
dered to the State with impressive cerc' 
monies. The exercises were viewed by 
Admiral Dewey, with Governor Wolcott 
and staff. 



PART II. 



European and Other Countries 

IN THE 

NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Great Events in English History. 



N the beginning 
of the cen- 
tury Europe 
was in a state 
of turmoil 
and great up- 
heaval. The 
star of Napo- 
leon was in 
the ascendant 
and tremen- 
dous forces 
were gather- 
ing by which the 
destiny of nations 
was to be decided. 

The return of Na- 
poleon from Eg}pt 
to France enabled 
England to finish 
the work of expell- 
ing the French from 
the East. On the 21st of March, 1801, 
Sir Ralph Abercrombie inflicted a crush- 
ing defeat upon the French before Alex- 
andria, and compelled them to evacuate 
Egypt. By this success England se- 
cured her possessions in India, and 
prevented Turkey from becoming a 
dependency of France. Malta had al- 
ready been wrested from the French, 




and England was now supreme in the 
Mediterranean. Her danger was very 
great, however. The treaty of IvUne- 
ville had left her alone in the struggle 
with France, and a league of the north- 
ern powers, with Russia at its head, 
was determined to compel her to aban- 
don her claim to the right to seize neu. 
tral vessels carrying contraband of war. 

Great Naval Victory. 

In April, 1801, England struck a ter- 
rible blow at this coalition. A British 
fleet attacked Copenhagen, and after a 
desperate struggle silenced the Danish 
forts and captured the larger part of 
the Danish fleet. Denmark was forced 
to withdraw from the northern coali- 
tion, and the league was soon broken 
up by the death of the Czar of Russia. 
All parties were now anxious for a ces- 
sation of hostilities, and in March, 1802, 
the peace of Amiens was concluded. 

By this treaty France agreed to with- 
draw from Italy and leave the newly- 
established republics of that country to 
work out their own destiny. England, 
on her part, agreed to give up all her 
conquests except Ceylon, and to restore 
Malta to the Knights of St John. This 
treaty was not satisfactory to England. 

127 



128 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



and would not have been made under 
the Pitt cabinet ; but that great minis- 
ter had withdrawn from the govern- 
ment in February, 1801, and had been 
succeeded by Mr. Addington, the Speak- 
er of the House of Commons, a very dull 
man. No one believed it possible for 
*"Jie peace to be of long continuance, 
and, as a matter of fact, war broke out 
again in May, 1803. 

Napoleon seized Hanover, and col- 
lected a large army and a fleet of trans- 
ports and boats at Boulogne for the 
invasion of England. The British gov- 
ernment prepared to meet the threat- 
ened invasion, and at the same time 
sought to organize a new coalition 
against France on the continent. Near- 
ly 400,000 volunteers enrolled them- 
selves for the defence of England. 

Pitt Again in Power. 

In 1804 the Addington ministry re- 
signed, and the peril of the country 
forced the king to recall William Pitt 
to power. He was greatly broken in 
health, and the obstinacy of the king 
prevented him from receiving the co- 
operation of Fox, Lord Grenville,Wynd- 
ham or Dundas, whom he was more 
anxious to include in his cabinet. Still 
he addressed himself to the task before 
him with his old courage. 

In 1805 Napoleon, who had in the 
meantime become Emperor of the 
French, determined to begin the inva- 
sion of England, and conceived a skill- 
ful plan for dividing the British fleet 
and concentrating the entire French 
navy in the Channel. By his alliance 
with Spain he had obtained the ser- 
vices of the Spanish fleet, and with this 
powerful armament he felt sure of pro- 
tecting the passage of the Channel by 



his army. The French fleet, under 
Admiral Villeneuve, sailed from Tou- 
lon, and effected a junction with the 
Spanish fleet at Corunna. Villeneuve 
then sailed to the westward, as if going 
to the West Indies, followed by the 
English fleet under Lord Nelson. Then 
suddenly putting about, he eluded the 
English and sailed for Brest, intending 
to unite with the French squadron at 
that port and crush the English Chan- 
nel fleet. 

Nelson, upon the disappearance of 
the French, returned to the coast of 
Spain and encountered the combined 
French and Spanish fleets off" Cape Tra- 
falgar, on the 2 1 st of October, 1 805. He 
at once attacked them, signaling to the 
fleet his memorable order of the day, 
" England expects every man to do his 
duty." At the moment of victory he 
was shot down by a rifleman, and died 
soon after. The sacrifice of England's 
greatest sailor was not in vain ; the 
French and Spanish fleets were annihi- 
lated. 

Napoleon's Brilliant Successes. 

Before this great victory had rendered 
the execution of his attempt upon Eng- 
land impossible. Napoleon had been 
forced to abandon his plan of invasion 
by the formation of the coalition of 
Austria, Russia, and England, and the 
gathering of the Austro-Russian army 
in the East. Breaking up his camp at 
Boulogne, he moved his army swiftly 
across France into Germany, and en- 
tered upon his memorable campaign of 
Ulm and Austerlitz. The shock of 
Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz was 
fatal to Pitt, who had long been failing 
in health. He died on the 23d of Jan- 
uary, 1806, at the early a.^*^ of forty- 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



129 



seven, a victim to his extraordinary 
labors. His loss was felt to be irre- 
parable. 

The policy of Pitt, to save Europe 
from the ambition of France, was vigor- 
ously carried out by Mr. Fox, his suc- 
cessor. All internal questions were 
subordinated to this great end, and for 
a while all parties united in supporting 



which was to draw upon her the con- 
demnation of the world. The Gren- 
ville ministry, which succeeded the 
cabinet of Fox, declared the whole coast 
of Europe occupied by France and her 
allies, from Dantzic to Trieste, to be in 
a state of blockade. It was not possible 
for even " the mistress of the seas " to 
maintain such a gigantic blockade. 




BATTLE OF CAPE TRAFALGAR. 



the government in its efforts to accom- 
plish it. In September, 1806, Fox fol- 
lowed Pitt to the grave, and on the 14th 
of October the decisive victory of Jena 
laid Prussia and all north Germany at 
Napoleon's feet. This might have been 
prevented had England been prompt to 
assist Prussia in her unequal struggle 
with France. 

England now ventured upon a step 



Napoleon retaliated by an act equally 
indefensible. He issued decrees ex- 
cluding all British commerce from the 
continent of Europe, hoping that this 
exclusion would involve British man- 
ufactures in ruin, and so end the war. 

These decrees, dated from Berlin and 
Milan, ordered that all British exports 
should be seized wherever found, and 
♦•^«»t this seizure and confiscation should 



130 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



extend to all neutral vessels that had 
touched at British ports. In this way 
he hoped to strip England of her carry 



sels bound for any port of Europe sub- 
ject to the blockade to touch first at 
some British port, under penalty of 




BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ. 



ing trade, which would then pass into 
the hands of neutrals. 

To prevent this, orders In council 
were issued bv the English government 



in January, 1807, requiring neutral ves- - long in a new war. 



seizure. These decrees and orders in 
council were simply so many outrages 
upon the rights of neutral nations, and 
were destined to involve England ere 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



131 



In February, 1807, the Grenville min- 
istry procured the abolition of the slave 
trade by act of parliament, and England 
ceased to take part in that infamous 
traffic. This great work was accom- 
plished in the face of a fierce opposition 
from the Tory party and the merchants 
of Liverpool, the latter of whom were 
unwilling to give up the profits con- 
nected with the trade in human flesh 
and blood. Encouraged by this suc- 
cess, the ministers endeavored to re- 
move the civil disabilities of Roman 
Catholic citizens, but upon the first in- 
timation of their scheme were dismissed 
by the king. 

English Alliance Prevented. 

A new ministry was formed under the 
Duke of Portland. Its leading spirit 
was the young foreign secretary, George 
Canning, an able and devoted disciple 
of Pitt. He came into office at a crit- 
ical time. Napoleon, after the con- 
quest of Prussia, had marched into 
Poland, and though checked by his re- 
verse at Eyleau, had won the decisive 
victory of Friedland, by which Russia 
was forced to consent to the treaty of 
Tilsit. The Emperor Alexander now 
began to court the friendship of Napo- 
leon in the hope of obtaining the assist- 
ance of France in the conquest of Tur- 
key. Russia closed her ports to British 
commerce, and compelled Sweden to do 
likewise, and to renounce the English 
alliance. 

Russia and Sweden hoped to add Den- 
mark to their league, and so obtain the 
services of the Danish fleet in their ef- 
fort to destroy the maritime supremacy 
of England. Canning prevented the 
success of this scheme by secretly equip- 
ping a fleet in the summer of 1807 and 



despatching it to Copenhagen with a 
demand for the surrender of the Danish 
fleet into the hands of England, which 
power guaranteed its safe return at the 
close of the war. 

Denmark returned a spirited refusal 
to this demand, and Copenhagen was 
subjected to a terrible bombardment 
and forced to surrender. The whole 
Danish fleet, with an immense quantity 
of naval stores, was carried into Eng- 
lish ports. 

In spite of England's success at sea, 
however. Napoleon was supreme on the 
land, and carried out his designs on the 
continent without hindrance. He held 
Prussia down by force; changed Hol- 
land into a monarchy, and bestowed its 
crown upon his brother Louis ; erected 
the electorates of Hanover and Hesse 
Cassel into the kingdom of Westphalia, 
which he gave to his brother Jerome ; 
made his brother Joseph King of Na- 
ples, and annexed the remainder of 
Italy, even including Rome, to the 
French empire. 

The "Iron Duke." 

Emboldened by this success, he now 
sought to make himself master of the 
Spanish peninsula, and in his attempt 
to execute this design met his first great 
check. Spain was soon overrun, and 
Portugal would have shared its fate had 
not Great Britain come to her assistance 
with a small but excellent army under 
Sir Arthur Wellesley and Sir John 
Moore. After the death of Sir John 
Moore the chief command of the British 
forces in the peninsula passed to Sir 
Arthur Wellesley, whose able conduct 
of the war soon showed him to be one 
of the first soldiers of modern times. 
The French were driven out of Portu- 



132 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



gal, but Moore's unhappy fate gave 
them an additional advantage in Spain. 
While Napoleon was occupied with his 
struggle against Austria, Wellesley 
successfully held his own against the 
French in Spain, and won for himself a 
peerage as Lord Wellington. 

Disastrous Defeat. 

In July, 1809, a force of 40,000 Eng- 
lish soldiers was sent to capture Ant- 
werp, but the expedition failed, fully 
half of the English troops perishing in 
the marshes of Walcheren, This dis- 
aster brought about the fall of the Port- 
land ministry. It was succeeded by a 
new cabinet under the guidance of 
Spencer Perceval, a man of no ability, 
but who, with his colleagues, was re- 
solved to continue the war. The strug- 
gle in the peninsula was prosecuted 
with vigor, and if the English won their 
way slowly, they advanced steadily to- 
ward the French frontier. The neces- 
sities and disasters of the Russian cam- 
paign greatly weakened the French 
army in Spain, and simplified the task 
of Lord Wellington accordingly. Dur- 
ing the greater part of 181 1 Wellington 
remained comparatively inactive, as the 
unsettled state of affairs at home pre- 
vented him from receiving the vigorous 
support he needed. In 18 13 he drove 
the French out of Spain, and crossed 
the Pyrenees after them. On the loth 
of April, 1 8 14, he fought the battle of 
Toulouse with Marshal Soult, and 
brought the war to a close. 

In the mean time George III. had 
been seized with a return of his insanity 
in the early part of 181 1, and the Prince 
of Wales had been declared regent by 
act of Parliament. The prince regent 
was strongly inclined to the Whig 



party, and was anxious to replace the 
Perceval cabinet with a ministry of that 
party. In March, 18 12, Mr. Perceval 
was assassinated by a lunatic, and the 
prince regent sought to recall the 
Whigs to power. He was defeated in 
this attempt, and the old ministry, with 
Lord Liverpool at its head, was restored 
to office. 

During the latter part of the Euro- 
pean war England had been drawn into 
another struggle. The decrees of Na- 
poleon and the orders in council of 
Great Britain had nearly ruined the 
commerce of America, and, after vainly 
endeavoring to obtain a revocation of 
them, the United States, on the 3d of 
June, 181 2, declared war against Great 
Britain. We have related the events of 
this war in the American history of this 
century. It was closed in December, 
1814. 

Alliance Against Napoleon. 

The return of Napoleon from Elba 
induced the allies to make extraordi- 
nary efforts for his destruction. An 
English army was sent to the frontier 
of the Netherlands to unite with the 
Prussian army under Marshal Blucher, 
which was advancing on the lower 
Rliine, and England furnished a sub- 
sidy of eleven millions of pounds to 
defray the cost of the war. The decisive 
blow was struck by the English under 
the Duke of Wellington, to whose ex- 
ertions and skill the overthrow of Na- 
poleon at Waterloo was due. 

In the final settlement of the affairs 
of Europe England played a prominent 
part — an influence to which the great 
sacrifices and tremendous efforts she 
had made to defeat Napoleon fully en- 
titled her. The conquests which she 




CAPTAIN DREYFUS BEFORE THE COURT-MARTIAL AT RENNES, FRANCE 

IN DECEMBER, 1894, HE WAS TRIED BY COURT-MARTIAL AND CONVICTED OF TREASON IN 

JUNE, 1899, HE WAS RETURNED FROM EXILE FOR A NEW TRIAL, WHICH RESULTED 

AGAIN IN CONVICTION, WITH A RECOMMENDATION TO MERCY. HE WAS 

IMMEDIATELY PARDONED BY PRESIDENT LOUBET 




CHARLES 



TRIPLER 



PROF. 

HE IS TO LIQUID AIR WHAT EDISON IS TO ELECTRICITY. THIS NEW AND GREAT DISCOVERY IS 
DESTINED TO REVOLUTIONIZE EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO THE SUPPLY OF MOTIVE POWER 
FOR TRANSPORTATION, MACHINERY, REFRIGERATION, MANUFACTURE OF POWERFUL EXPLOS- 
IVES Etc. the ABOVE ILLUSTRATION $HOWS A HAMMER OF FROZEN MERCURY. 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



133 



retained at the end of the war were the 
Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch posses- 
sions in Ceylon, Berbice and the other 
Dutch settlement in Guiana, the islands 
of Mauritius and the Seychelles, which 
were captured from the French ; the 
islands of Malta and Heligoland, the 
latter of which had been wrested from 
Denmark, and some West India islands 
which had been taken from France and 
Spain. 

The peace of 1815 left Great Britain 
feverish and exhausted. The national 
debt had increased to about $4,000,000,- 
000, and the heavy taxation to which 
the country had been subjected had 
produced general distress. The long 
years of strife that had ensued since the 
accession of Napoleon to power had 
impoverished the continent also, and 
had destroyed the market for English 
manufactures. An excess of produc- 
tion in the last years of the war had 
crowded the English manufactories 
with unsalable goods, and had put a 
stop to the demand for skilled labor. 

Discontent in England. 

A series of bad harvests produced 
great scarcity, and this. evil was greatly 
increased by the selfish legislation of 
the land-owners in Parliament, who 
procured the passage of an act prohibit- 
ing the importation of foreign corn 
until wheat had reached famine prices. 
The sudden return of the large body of 
men employed in the army and navy to 
the pursuits of peace added greatly to 
the existing troubles, which in 18 16 
reached their highest point. The "Lud- 
dites," a society of workingmen organ- 
ized in 18 1 2 to resist the introduction 
of machinery into the mills, now broke 
out into a series of outrages and riots 



which gave the government great 
trouble. In the midst of these dissen- 
sions George III., old, blind and insane, 
died at Windsor Castle on the 29th of 
January, 1820. 

Ireland Independent. 

One of the chief events of the reig-n 
George III. was the union of Ireland 
with Great Britain. In 1782 Irelau'l 
obtained the independence of its par- 
liament. It thus ceased to be depend- 
ent upon Great Britain, though re- 
maining subject to the same king. The 
administration of Irish affairs was con- 
trolled by a selfish clique, who oppressed 
the remainder of the people so griev- 
ously that the country sank rapidly 
into poverty. Pitt made vain endeavors 
to break down tliis clique and do jus- 
tice to Ireland, but was defeated. At 
length an association of " United Irish- 
men ' ' took up the wrongs of the 
country, opened a correspondence with 
France, and finally rose in insurrection 
in 1796 and 1797, being goaded to this 
step by the lawless cruelty of the Orange 
yeomanry and the English troops. Sev- 
eral expeditions were sent to their as- 
sistance from France, but were of little 
avail. They were finally defeated ; the 
insurrection was put down, and on the 
1st of January, 1801, Ireland was for- 
mally united to Great Britain. From 
this time the Irish parliament was dis- 
continued, and the Irish representatives 
were sent to the British parliament. 

Upon the death of George III., his 
son, the prince regent, ascended the 
throne as George IV. He was exceed- 
ingly unpopular, and, as he had been 
at the head of the government for the 
last ten years, his accession to the crown 
gave no hope of a change of affairs. 



134 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Within a month after his accession a 
plot was discovered by the police, known 
as the Cato street conspiracy, which had 
been formed by a number of desperate 
men, with Arthur Thistlewood at their 
head, for the assassination of the whole 
ministry. Thistlewood and four of his 
accomplices were hanged. 

George IV., when still Prince of 
Wales, had been induced by his father 
to marry his cousin Caroline, Princess 
of Brunswick-Wolfenbiittel. The mar- 
riage took place in 1795. The prince 
soon separated from his wife, and charged 
her with infidelity to him. His first 
act after becoming king was to renew 
this charge in the most public manner, 
and to cau'^e a bill to be brought into 
parliament by the ministry to divorce 
and degrade Queen Caroline on charges 
of misconduct. The queen was as pop- 
ular with the people as her husbund 
was odious to them, and their bitter re- 
sentment of the attack upon her forced 
the house of Lords to abandon the bill. 

No Crown For the Queen. 

The king, less sensitive to public 
opinion, resolved to oppose her corona- 
tion as his wife, and in this step was 
supported by the privy council. The 
queen was equally determined to main- 
tain her rights, and on the morning of 
the. day appointed for the coronation 
presented herself at the doors of West- 
minster Abbey, but was refused admis- 
sion. This humiliation was fatal to her; 
she was taken ill, and died August 7, 
1821. 

A new ministry, under the Duke of 
Wellington, in 1828, reaped the honor 
of inaugurating an important measure 
of reform which was the outgrowth of 
the work begun by Pitt and Canning. 



Until the reign of George III. the Roman 
Catholic subjects of Great Britain had 
remained liable to penal laws of such 
severity that the government was never 
willing to execute them. In that reign 
many of these restrictions were removed 
from such Romanists as would take aii^', 
oath prescribed for them, and finally all' 
grades of the military and naval service 
were thrown open to them. They were 
still exclued fromi both houses of parlia- 
ment and from certain civil offices and 
privileges by the oath of supremacy and 
the declaration required of them against 
the doctrine of transubstantiation, the 
sacrifice of the Mass, and the invoca- 
tion of the saints. 

O'Connell in Parliament. 

Pitt attempted to remove these dis- 
abilities, but the king firmly refused to 
allow the question to be opened. Can- 
ning attempted to secure the same ob- 
ject, but died too soon. The accession 
of the ministry of the Duke of Welling- 
ton greatly dampened the hopes of the 
Catholics ; but they were soon revived 
by the sudden display of strength hy 
the Irish Catholics, who elected Daniel 
O'Connell, a popular politician, to a 
seat in parliament. O'Connell was sus- 
tained by the entire Catholic population 
of Ireland, and demanded the removal 
of the disabilities of his co-religionistSf 
threatening civil war as the alternative. 

The danger was very great, and the 
Duke of Wellington brought in a bill 
which he declared was the only means 
of averting civil war, and which ad- 
mitted Romanists to parliament and to 
all civil and military offices under the 
crown, save those of regent, lord chan- 
cellor in England and Ireland, lord 
lieutenant of Ireland, and some others. 



136 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



The bill passed both houses of parlia- 
ment, and received the royal assent on 
the 13th of April, 1829. 

In 1828 another reform was accom- 
plished in favor of the Protestant dis- 
senters by the repeal of the laws requir- 
ing all persons taking office to receive 
the holy communion according to the 
forms of the established church. 

William IV. on the Throne. 

On the 26th of June, 1830, George 
IV., who had passed the last years of 
his life in seclusion at Windsor Castle, 
died. His only child, the Princess 
Charlotte, being dead, he was succeeded 
by his brother William Henry, Duke 
of Clarence, who became king as Wil- 
liam IV. 

The reformed parliament — the object 
of so many hopes and fears — met on the 
29th of January, 1833. ^^ passed several 
important acts, but its violence — espec- 
ially that of the great Irish agitator, 
O' Council — went far to justify the fears 
of its enemies and produce a feeling of 
reaction in the country. Even the king 
went over to the Tories, dismissed the 
ministry, and placed Sir Robert Peel at 
the head of a new cabinet in November, 
1834. The general election in the fol- 
lowing spring restored the Whigs to 
power, with Lord Melbourne as chief of 
the new ministry. 

Although the slave trade had been 
abolished by Great Britain, slavery ex- 
* isted in the colonies until 1833. In 
August of that year the "Act for the 
Abolition of Slavery" throughout the 
British dominions was passed. The gov- 
ernment paid to the owners of the slaves 
thus liberated the sum of 1 100,000,000 
as compensation for the loss of their 
property. In the same year the com- 



mercial monopoly of the Bast India 
Company was abolished, and the trade 
of that country thrown open to the 
whole British nation. A new poor law 
was enacted in 1834 to check the grow- 
ing evils of pauperism. 

In the autumn of 1 830 the Liverpool 
and Manchester railway was opened by 
its projector, George Stephenson. This 
was the beginning of the great railway 
system of Great Britain. The new sys- 
tem of transportation, being found suc- 
cessful, was rapidly adopted in various 
parts of the kingdom, and proved a 
powerful aid in the development of the 
trarle and wealth of the kingdom. 

Queen Victoria. 

On the 20th of June, 1837, William 
IV. died at Windsor Castle. His only 
children, two daughters by his wife 
Adelaide, Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, 
had both died in infancy. His crown 
of Hanover passed to the next male heir, 
Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, 
the fifth son of George III., and thus 
became forever separated from that of 
England. William was succeeded on 
the throne of Great Britain and Ireland, 
in default of male heirs, by his niece, 
the Princess Alexandrina Victoria, the 
only child of his brother Edward, Duke 
of Kent, the present reigning sovereign. 

Queen Victoria was but eighteen years 
old at the time of her accession to the 
throne, but was popular with all classes 
of her subjects. On the loth of February, 
1840, the queen married her cousin, 
Albert, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 
a man of many virtues, and of ability 
and rare good sense, qualities which 
won him the affection and confidence of 
the English people, and enabled him to 
retain these feelings throughout his life. 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



137 



J 11 1839 an association known as the 
"Anti-Corn-Law League " was formed, 
and devoted itself to the task of spread- 
ing its principles by speeches and var- 
ious publications. The association suc- 
ceeded in gradually enlightening the 
English mind as to the effect of pro- 
tective laws. Sir Robert Peel, who had 
entered office pledged to continue the 
protective system, became convinced of 
its inexpediency. In 1846 the failure 
of the potato crop in Ireland threatened 
that country with a terrible famine ; 
and at the same time the harvest in 
England failed. 

Oobden and Free Trade. 

This emergency compelled the tri- 
umph of the free trade cause, and Sir 
Robert Peel was forced to introduce 
bills abolishing or reducing to a nomi- 
nal figure the duties on foreign corn, 
cattle and other articles of food. The 
bills were passed, but the resentment of 
the Conservatives was bitter, and drove 
Peel from office. He was succeeded by 
a Whig ministry, under Lord John Rus- 
sell, which continued in office until 
1852. The complete operation of the 
free trade measures was not secured 
until 1849. The credit of the victory 
was due to Richard Cobden, the leader 
of the free trade party, and one of the 
wisest political economists England ever 
produced. 

In 1853 the designs of Russia upon 
Turkey induced England to take a de- 
cisive stand against the former power. 
An alliance was affected with France 
for this purpose in 1854, and was fol- 
lowed by the Crimean war. The suffer- 
ings of the English army through the 
neglect of the government in the winter 
of 1854-55 aroused a storm of indigna- 



tion at home, which drove the Aber- 
deen ministry from power early in 1855. 
A new ministry was formed under Lord 
Palmerston, and devoted itself with en- 
ergy to the ]3rosecution of the war. 

Sebastopol, a fortified town of the 
Crimea, underwent an eleven months' 
siege by the English and French. The 
allied army appeared before the town 
September 20th, 1854, and the grand 
attack and bombardment commenced, 
without success, on the 17th of Oc- 
tober following. For many months 
assaults were continued, pud after re- 
peated bombardments a grand attack 
was made September 8th, 1855, upon 
the Malakhoff Tower and the Redans, 
the most important fortifications to the 
south of the town. 

A Desperate Struggle. 

The French succeeded in capturing 
and retaining the Malakhoff. The at- 
tacks of the English on the great Redan 
and of the French upoxi^ the little Re- 
dan were successful, bur the assailants 
were compelled to retire, after a desper- 
ate struggle, with great loss of life. 
The French lost 1646 killed, of whom 
5 were generals, 24 superior and 116 
inferior officers, 4500 wounded and 1400 
missing. The English lost 385 killed, 
29 being commissioned and 42 non- 
commissioned officers, 1886 wounded 
and 176 missing. 

In the night the Russians abandoned 
the southern and principal part of the 
town and fortifications, after destroying 
as much as possible, and crossed to the 
northern ports. They also sank or 
burnt the remainder of the fleet. The 
allies found a very great amount of 
stores when they entered the town, Sep- 
tember 9th. The works were utterly 



138 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



destroyed in April, 1856, and the town 
was restored to the Russians in July, 

During the American civil war Eng- 
land proclaimed a policy of neutrality, 
which was not fairly adhered to, the re- 
sult being that a number of Confederate 
cruisers, built, armed and manned in 
British jiorts, were suffered to go to 
sea and nearly swept American com- 
merce out of existence. The United 
States were thus given a valid cause of 
irritation against Great Britain, and at 
a later period presented claims against 
that government, which were settled in 
a Court of Arbitration by awarding 
damages of 15,000,000 dollars to the 
government at Washington. 

The Franchise Extended. 

A bill passed Parliament in August, 
1867, which extended the borough fran- 
chise to all rate-payers and lodgers oc- 
cupying rooms to the annual value of 
^10 ($50). The county franchise was 
reduced to ^12 ($60). Thirty-three 
members were withdrawn from the 
English boroughs, and of these twenty- 
five were distributed among the English 
counties ; the rest were assigned to 
Scotland and Ireland. This measure 
added large numbers of workingmen to 
the voting class, and when the elections 
of 1868 were held, a lyiberal parliament 
was returned by overwhelming majori- 
ties. Mr. Disraeli, who had succeeded 
Lord Derby as premier, withdrew from 
office upon the announcement of the re- 
sult, and a liberal ministry, with Mr. 
Gladstone at its head, came into power. 

The new government addressed itself 
with vigor to some of the most difficult 
questions of the day. An effort was 
made to remove the chronic discontent 
of Ireland by the disestablishment and 



disendowment of the Protestant Church 
in 1869. This measure put an end to the 
compulsory payment by the Irish of taxes 
for the support of a church with which 
the vast majority of them had no sympa- 
thy. In 1 870 a land bill was passed, 
which established a sort of tenant-right 
in all parts of Ireland. In 1868 the 
non-conformists were relieved of the 
compulsory payment of church rates ; 
and in 1871 still further justice was 
done them by the abolition of all reli- 
gious tests for admission to T)ffices or 
degrees in the universities. 

Public School System. 

The army and navy were subjected to 
important reforms, and in the former 
the system of promotion by purchase 
was abolished. In 1871 a bill was passed 
by parliament establishing school-boards 
in every district, and levying local rates 
for their support. In 1871 a radical 
step towards parliamentary reform was 
taken in the passage of an act estab- 
lishing the practice of voting by the 
ballot. The magnitude and extent of 
Mr. Gladstone's reforms, however, 
alarmed the country, and in 1874 a bill 
introduced by him for the organization 
of university education in Ireland was 
defeated. The ministers appealed to 
the country, and v/ere answered by the 
election of a strongly Conservative par- 
liament. Mr. Gladstone and his col- 
leagues thereupon resigned their offices, 
and were succeeded by a Conservative 
ministry, with Mr. Disraeli as premier. 

The power of Great Britain in India 
continued to increase through the earh- 
part of the century, and was exercised 
through the notorious East India Com- 
pany. In 181 5 the whole of Ceylon 
was brought under English rule, and in 



GREAT IJX'ENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



139 



1 8 19 an English colony was founded at 
Singapore, near the southern extremity 
of the Malay peninsula, and became one 
of the principal markets of the India 
trade. In 1833 the charter of the East 
India Company expired. The company 
was given by the British Parliament the 
government of Hindustan for twenty 
years, but its monopoly of the Eastern 
trade was not renewed ; and the com- 
merce of India was made free to all the 
subjects of Great Britain. 

Opium in China. 

One of the principal results of the 
establishment of the colony at Singa- 
pore was the sudden development of the 
opium trade with China. The Chinese 
government had previously tolerated 
this traffic, but now, becoming alarmed 
by the fearful evils which the use of 
opium was fastening upon the Chinese 
nation, endeavored to put a stop to it. 
An imperial edict prohibited the impor- 
tation of opium, but the traffic was car- 
ried on by the English and Chinese 
merchants in defiance of the law. The 
trade was very profitable, and the con- 
nivance of the ofiicials could be pur- 
chased by large bribes. The imperial 
government then ordered the British 
merchants to be blockaded in their 
warehouses at Canton until they surren- 
dered all the opium in their possession, 
amounting in value, it is said, to ten 
millions of dollars. 

The British government resented this 
attempt of China to protect her people 
at the expense of English profits, and a 
war of two years ensued. Canton was 
taken by the English, but was ransomed 
for six millions of dollars, and several 
other places were bombarded. The Chi- 
nese were at length compelled to make 



peace, and a treaty was signed at Nan- 
kin in August, 1 842, by which the island 
of Hong Kong was ceded to the British, 
and the ports of Canton, Amoy, Foochoo, 
Ningpo and Shanghai were thrown open 
to the trade of the world, and were made 
the official residences of European con-^ 
suls. China was also compelled to pa) 
to Great Britain an indemnity of $21^- 
000,000. 

In 1 838 Great Britain became involved 
in a war with the Afghans, for the pur- 
pose of restoring to his throne Shah 
Sujah, the ruler of Cabul, who had been 
deposed by his people. He proved him- 
self such an execrable tyrant that he 
was murdered by his subjects. 

Revolt Against the English. 

A general revolt of the Afghans fol- 
lowed in 1842, and the British army, 
forced to retreat from Cabul, was cut off 
almost to a man in the Khyber moun- 
tain pass. An expedition under General 
Pollock avenged this disaster, and cap- 
tured Cabul in 1842. The war, how- 
ever, greatly encouraged the natives in 
their efforts against the English, and in 
1843 '^ war with the Ameers of Scinde 
broke out. It resulted in the conquest 
of that country by Sir Charles Napier, 
in 1843, who was apjDointed Governor 
of Scinde, and who ruled his province 
with firnniess and success. 

In 1845 and in 1848 there was war 
between the British and the Sikhs of 
the Punjaub. On the 21st of February, 
1 849, Lord Gough won the decisive vic- 
tory of Goojerat, and this was followed 
by the close of the war, and the annex- 
ation of the Punjaub to the British 
dominions. A little later Sir Henry 
Lawrence was appointed to the govern- 
ment of the Punjaub, which, since the 



140 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGUSH HISTORY. 



dn) s of Alexander the Great, had been 
the scene of constant rapine and strife. 
Liis rule was so just and kind that the 
Sikhs were completely won over to the 
English authority. 

, The dominion of Great Britain in In- 
< la extended over hundreds of millions 



received for them from England. The 
cartridges of these rifles were supposed 
to contain beef-tallow, and as the use of 
this article, which is sacred to the Hin- 
dus, is forbidden to any devout native, 
several regiments objected to using the 
cartridges, and their wishes were re 




THE STORMING OF DEI.HI BY THE ENGLISH. 



of people, and had been won and was 
maintained by a mere handful of British 
troops. The great mass of the troops 
employed by the English were natives, 
and were known as Sepoys. They were 
generally contented, and obeyed their 
English officers with r<?adiness and con- 
fidence. 

In 1856 a supply of Enfield rifles was 



spected by the'government, which sup- 
pressed the cartridges. The discontent 
did not subside, however, but continued 
to spread, and early in 1857 a formida- 
ble mutiny broke out among the native 
troops in Bengal, Gude and the prov- 
ince of Delhi. 

Wherever they had the power, the 
insurgents massacred all the English 




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GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



141 



they could lay hands on, sparing neither 
age nor sex. The middle and lower 
classes of the population joined the in- 
surgents, but the chiefs and large land- 
holders as a rule remained faithful to 
the government. The insurgents estab- 
lished their capital at Delhi, and pro- 
claimed its nominal king Emperor of 
Hindustan. Cawnpore was besieged by 
the Sepoys, and surrendered after a siege 
of two hundred days. The promise of 
safety made to the garrison was violated 
and tiiey were treacherously massacred. 

Traitors Punished. 

Delhi was taken by the English in 
September, 1857, and the insurgents 
severely punished. Its emperor was 
transported to Burmah, and his two sons 
were put to death. The English made 
heroic efforts to re-establish their author- 
ity, and defeated the greatly superior 
forces of the Sepoys over and over again. 
Cawnpore was taken by General Have- 
lock, who then united his small army 
with that of Sir James Outram, and to- 
gether they succeeded in relieving the 
besieged garrison of Lucknow, the capi- 
tal of Oude, which had held out hero- 
ically against an overwhelming force of 
Sepoys. In this siege Sir Henry Law- 
rence was killed. 

The insurgents did not abandon their 
attempt upon Lucknow after the arrival 
of Havelock and Outram, but held on 
until March, 1858, nearly five months 
after the first investment, when the arri- 
val of an English army under Sir Colin 
Campbell forced them to retreat after a 
severe defeat. The relief of Lucknow 
virtually ended the war. The fighting 
continued through the summer of 1858, 
but the insurrection was crushed, and 
its leaders were put to death, or pun- 



ished with great severity. The British 
power was firmly re-established through- 
out India, and no further outbreak has 
occurred since this triumph. 

In addition to her possessions in India, 
Great Britain during the nineteenth 
century has built up a flourishing empire 
in the southern Pacific. It is larger in 
extent, and may yet be of greater im- 
portance than India. The vast island 
of Australia, which really merits the 
title of a continent, is only a part of 
these vast possessions. 

In 1873 a quarrel broke out between 
the English and the King of Ashantee, 
in western Africa, with respect to a sti- 
pend formerly allowed by the Dutch to 
the king. England had been formally 
in possession of the. Gold Coast and the 
old Dutch colonies since 1 872, when she 
acquired them by treaty with the Dutch. 
The colonial authorities now demanded 
that the King of Ashantee should with- 
draw his warriors from their territory, 
but so far from complying with this 
demand, the sable potentate proceeded 
to levy war upon the English posses- 
sions. 

The Ashantee Expedition. 

Late in 1873 the British government 
despatched a force under Sir Garnett 
Wolseley to the Gold Coast. He arrived 
on the coast about the close of the year, 
and at once advanced into the Ashantee 
territory. He met with considerable 
resistance, and lost many of his men in 
consequence of the unhealthiness of the 
country, but steadily drove the natives 
before him. About the first of Febru- 
ary he defeated the Ashantee forces in 
a pitched battle in the neighborhood of 
Coomassie, their capital, and on the fifth 
entered Coomassie and received the sub- 



142 



GREAT EVENTS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



mission of the king, who agreed to enter 
into a treaty binding himself to respect 
the English possessions. This success 
broke the Ashantee power for the time, 
and gave peace and protection to the 
English settlements in western xA.frica, 
and prepared the way for civilization. 

On the 2d of May, 1876, Queen Vic- 
toria was formally proclaimed, in addi- 
tion to her other titles, "Empress of 
India." 

The struggle of the Irish people for 
' ' Home Rule ' ' enters largely in the later 
history of Great Britain. Measures en- 
forced in the interest of the landlords 
have been bravely resisted by the Irish 
peasantry. Organized effort was adopted 
and a land league was formed, which 
became dominant in 1880. In 1881 
Gladstone's Land Act was passed, yet 
legislation was powerless to appease the 
Irish sense of injustice and allay the 
excitement. 

Foul Murders. 

In 1882 Lord Cavendish and Mr. 
Burke were appointed secretary and 
under-secretary respectively for Ireland. 
Upon their arrival in Dublin they were 
murdered under circumstances of pecu- 
liar atrocity. The act created a pro- 
found sensation and served to render the 
strife more bitter. 

Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield) having 
become prime minister, war broke out 
in Egypt and the Soudan. Dissatisfac- 
tion at home occasioned the downfall of 
Beaconsfield' s ministry, and he was 
succeeded by Gladstone, who, not being 
able to carry his "Home Rule" meas- 
ure, in turn yielded the government to 
Lord Salisbury. During 1887, and at 
the beginning of 1888, England, al- 



though at peace abroad, was agitated 
with domestic strife. 

On the 2 1st of June, 1887, the queen 
attended the jubilee services at West- 
minster Abbey in honor of the fiftieth 
anniversary of her accession to the 
throne. The agitation by the Home 
Rule party of Ireland continued through- 
out 1 890 and 1 89 1, Mr. Gladstone advo- 
cating eloquently the cause of the op- 
pressed Irish people. Mr. Parnell, who 
by his conspicuous services had greatly 
aided the Irish cause, died at Brighton 
October 6, 1891. 

The Queen's Jubilee. 

In June, 1897, Queen Victoria com- 
pleted the sixtieth 5' ear of her reign, 
the longest reign of any English sover- 
eign. This event was celebrated by a 
jubilee in which not only the peo'^le of 
England participated, but other nations 
through their representatives. The oc- 
casion was one of universal rejoicing. 

In October, 1899, war broke out be- 
tween the English and the Boers, a name 
given to the Dutch settlers in South 
Africa, since the sixteenth century, who 
still retain their national character. Dis- 
contented with the British rule in the 
Cape since 18 14, large bands of them 
in 1835-37 emigrated northward, and 
founded the Orange Free State, 1836, 
and the Transvaal Republic, 1848, after 
much fighting with the natives. In 
1899 the English, being greatly dissatis- 
fied with the Boers for denying to the 
Outlanders, or foreigners, rights that 
belonged to them, interfered in behalf 
of the English-speaking part of the pop- 
ulation, and the result was a sharp con- 
test. The spirit of the Boers was shown 
by resisting so formidable a power. 



CHAPTER 



France in the Nineteenth Century. 



tRMlHS in grand array, victories 
but just won and destined ever- 
more to be famous, a brilliant 
conqueror whose word was 
magic and whose tread jarred nations, 
empires of the old world startled from 
the sleep of ages, mighty forces in con- 
flict and new ideas and princi|)les seeth- 
ing and mystifying all political phil- 
osophers as to what the future would 
bring forth — this was the condition of 
France when the bell tolled for the de- 
parture of the old century and the new 
one was ushered in. 

The triumphs of Napoleon had already 
astonished the world, and tremendous 
combinations were forming for his over- 
throw. The unsettled state of affairs in 
France gave him an opportunity that 
he eagerly grasped. His ambition was 
boundless and for a time his power 
seemed to be. The French Revolution 
was just p83t, and out of the chaos and 
confusioix a new national life was to 
come. 

A Directory was formed to adminis- 
ter the government, which was now 
conducted in a spirit of order and con- 
ciliation. In 1797 Bonaparte and his 
brother-commanders were omnipotent 
in Italy ; Austria was compelled to 
give up Belgium and recognize the 
Cisalpine Republic. The glory of the 
French arms was re-established abroad, 
but at home the nation was still suffer- 
ing from the shock of the Revolution. 
The Directory repudiated two-thirds of 
the national debt, and thus almost 
ruined the commerce anrl credit of 
France. 



Under the pretext of attacking Eng- 
land, a fleet of 400 ships and an army 
of 36,000 picked men were equipped ; 
their destination proved.^ however, to 
be Egypt, whither the Directory sent 
Bonaparte; but the young general, re- 
signing the command to Kleber, landed 
in France in 1799. The Directory fell 
on the famous "i8th Brumaire" (9th 
of November, 1799); under the constitu- 
tion of Siey^s the State was put under 
three consuls who, unlike those of 
Rome, weie three in number, with dif- 
ferent degrees of authority. 

Bonaparte's Supreme Power. 

Napoleon secured supreme power as 
First Consul. In 1800 a new constitu- 
tion was promulgated, vesting the sole 
executive power in Bonaparte, who 
showed consummate .skill in reorgani- 
zing the government, to which he im- 
parted a systematic efficiency and a 
spirit of centralization that secured a 
thoroughly practical administration. 
Having resumed his command, he 
marched an army over the Alps, at- 
tacked the Austrians unav/ares, and 
decided the fate of Italy by his victory 
at Marengo. In 1801 the peace of Lune- 
ville was concluded, and the boundaries 
of France were once more extended to 
the Rhine. 

England was the only country whicn 
refused to recognize the various Italian 
and German conquests of France ; and, 
with the exception of a brief period of 
peace, England remained the implaca- 
ble foe of Bonaparte from the days of 
the consulate to his defeat at Waterloo. 

143 



144 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Every period of respite from war was 
employed by the First Consul in foster- 
ing trade and industry, and in oblitera- 
ting both in private and public life the 
stains left by the Reign of Terror. 

In 1804, on an appeal by universal 
suffrage to the nation, Bonaparte was 
proclaimed Emperor. The Pope came 



hands. For a time Napoleon's influ- 
ence with the weakened powers of the 
Continent succeeded in maintaining an 
injurious system of blockade against 
England ; and, except in the Peninsula, 
his arms were everywhere victorious. 
His marriage, too, with the Archduchess 
Maria Louisa, a direct descendant of 




BONAPARTE DISSOLVING THE 

to Paris to crown him and his wife Jo- 
sephine. Napoleon took the crown 
from the hands of the Pope, placed it 
on his own head, and then crowned the 
Empress Josephine, who knelt before 
him. A new nobility was rapidly 
created, and the relatives and favorites 
of the emperor received vanquished 
kingdoms and principalities at his 



COUNCIL OF FIVE HUNDRED. 

the ancient House of Hapsburg, 18 10, 
seemed to give to his throne the pres- 
tige of birth, which alone it had lacked. 
He kept up the Democratic impulse of 
the Revolution as much as was wanted 
to drive his engine of war. His tactics 
would have availed him little against 
the successive European coalitions had 
he not adopted the principle of national 




^^. , „ . Copyright. 1900, by George W. Bertron. 

RENOWNED RULERS OF THE CENTURY 




CORONATION OF NAPOLEON AI^D THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 

le 145 



146 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



armies, general conscription, and forced 
requision introduced by Carnot, the 
"organizer" of revolutionary France's 
victorious resistance against foreign ag- 
gression. This principle has since be- 
come the outstanding feature of conti- 
nental warfare. 

It gave Napoleon an empire including 
practically the whole of Europe, except 
Russia, Turkey and Great Britain ; when 
it was quietly introduced by Prussia, it 
assisted effectually in bringing to a close 
the emperor's career, but not until he 
had made himself king of Italy, 1805, 
made of Holland and Naples vassal 
kingdoms, 1806, set up in Germany the 
Confederation of the Rhine, conquered 
Prussia, 1806-7, occupied Portugal, de- 
posed the Bourbons in Spain, 1808, 
reduced the Hapsburgs after four cam- 
paigns from their medieval title of Ro- 
man emperors to the status of emperors 
of Austria, made of Rome a French 
town, and carried off Pope Pius VII. to 
Fontainebleau. 

The Emperor's Downfall, 

In the long run, the evils attending 
his high-handed policy both in France 
and out of it undermined his position. 
The French navy was destroyed by 
Nelson at Trafalgar, 1805, and the sea- 
trade of France much injured. His 
despotism, the unceasing strain of war, 
the burden of conscription, the estrange- 
ment between emperor and pope threw 
the seed of disaffection ctmong the 
French people 

From 181 1 to his final defeat in 181 5 
the emperor rapidly lost ground. The 
disastrous Russian campaign, in which 
his enormous army of 400,000 men was 
lost amid the rigors of a northern winter, 
was soon followed by the falli"q; away 



of his allies and feudatories. Napoleon 
himself was still victorious wherever he 
appeared in person, but his generals 
were beaten in numerous engagements; 
and the great defeat of Leipzig, 181 3, 
compelled the French to retreat beyond 
the Rhine. The Swedes brought rein- 
forcements to swell the ranks of his 
enemies on the east frontier, while the 
English pressed on from the south ; the 
senate and his ministry betrayed his 
cause, and the allies marched on Paris, 
which, in the absence of the emperor, 
capitulated after a short resistance, 
March 30. 18 14. 

Begins a New Struggle. 

Napoleon now abdicated in favor of 
his young son, and retired to the island 
of Elba, the sovereignty of which had 
been granted to him. His wife and son 
removed to Vienna ; his family were 
declared to have forfeited the throne ; 
France was reduced to her former limits, 
and the provinces she had acquired were 
restored to their national rulers. 

On the 3d of May Louis XVIII. (the 
brother of Louis XVI.) made his entry 
into Paris. The conduct of the Bour- 
bons did not conciliate the nation; they 
returned loaded with debts, and sur- 
rounded by the old nobility and clergy, 
who had not renounced their former 
privileges, and who looked upon the 
generation of Frenchmen that had arisen 
since the Revolution as their natural 
enemies. 

A narrow spirit influenced the weak 
policy of the king, which , led to the 
establishment of a strict censorship, the 
extension of the powers of the police, 
and the persecution of the adherents of 
the Empire ; while the lower classes 
and the army,' who alike resented the 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



147 



humiliating reaction that had followed 
the former excitement of war and con- 
quest, were treated with an indifference, 
and even contempt, b}/ the returned 
officials, to which they were wholly un- 
accustomed. 

On the ist of March, 1815, Napoleon 
left Elba and landed in France. The 
soldiers flocked around his standard : 
the Bourbons fled, and he took posses- 
sion of their palaces. The news of his 
lauding spread terror through Europe ; 
and on the 25th of March a treaty of 
alliance was signed at Vienna between 
Austria, Russia, Prussia and England, 
and preparations were at once made to 
put down the movement in his favor 
and restore the Bourbon dynasty. At 
first the old prestige of success seemed 
to attend Napoleon ; but on the i8th of 
June he was defeated at Waterloo ; and, 
having placed himself under the Safe- 
guard of the English he was sent to 
the Island of St. Helena, in conformity 
with the generally acknowledged senti- 
ment that it was necessary to the peace 
of Europe to remove him finally and 
definitely from the scene of his former 
power. 

"A Martyr to Prance." 

On the 5th of May, 182 1, the de- 
throned Emperor died at St. Helena, 
after a captivity of nearly six years, in 
the fifty-second year of his age. His 
death was sincerely mourned by the 
mass of the French people, who re- 
garded him as a martyr to the cause of 
France. 

On the 1 6th of September, 1824, 
Louis XVIII. died. He was succeeded 
by his brother, the Count of Artois, who 
ascended the throne as Charles X. He 
was a true Bourbon ; ignorant, narrow- 



minded, a firm believer in absolute rule 
and thoroughly under the influence of 
the Jesuits. In his disposition he was 
frank and cordial, and his friends were 
warmly attached to him. He was 
crowned in the Cathedral of Rheims, on 
the 29th of May, 1825, and the ancient 
ceremonial of the Middle Ages was re- 
vived in all its details for this occasion. 
Charles had been the first to emigrate 
from France in 1790, at the outbreak of 
the Revolution. ' He returned to it in 
18 14 with the same ideas and prejudices 
he had taken away with him. The 
world had moved far beyond him in the 
thirty-five years which had rolled by 
since he fled from his country. 

The Nation Enraged. 

The reactionary tendencies of the new 
government alarmed and angered the 
nation. The first evidence of this feel- 
ing was given at a review of the national 
guard in the spring of 1827, when the 
troops, upon passing the king, shouted, 
" Down with the ministers! Down with 
the Jesuits ! " The king at once dis- 
banded the national guard of Paris, but 
unfortunately for himself left them in 
pessession of their arms. In the elec- 
tions of 1827 an overwhelming majority 
against the government was returned to 
the chamber. The king was obliged to 
dismiss his ministers and to summon a 
more liberal cabinet. 

One of the first acts of the new min- 
istry was to remove the system of pub- 
lic education from the control of the 
Jesuits. This was a very popular meas- 
ure with the nation, but it gave great 
offence to the king, who, on the 8th of 
August, 1829, dismissed the ministers 
and appointed a new cabinet, with Prince 
Polignac at its head. The appointment 



148 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



of this ministry — every member of 
which was noted for his devotion to 
absohitism — was regarded by the people 
as a declaration of war on the part of 
the king against the charter and all the 
liberties of Frenchmen. The chamber 
of deputies plainly told the king that 
the new ministers did not enjoy the con- 
fidence of the country, and was dissolved 
by the angry sovereign. The deputies 
were re-elected by the people, and the 
new chamber was more than ever in the 
hands of the opposition. 

Trouble in Algiers. 

While this struggle had been going 
on in France, a foreign dispute had been 
engaging the attention of the govern- 
ment. The Dey of Algiers had robbed 
the French merchants residing in his 
dominions of large sums, and had in- 
sulted the French consul upon his de- 
manding redress. In the summer of 
1829 an expedition under the command 
of General Bourmont, the minister of 
war, was despatched to Algiers to obtain 
redress by force of arms. It landed be- 
fore that city, carried its defences by 
assault and compelled the dey to sur- 
render. Algiers was at once occupied 
by the French troops, who were en- 
riched with the spoils of the city. 

As soon as he learned of the success 
of the liberals in the election of 1830, 
Charles X. determined to compel the 
triumph of his absolute power by em- 
ploying a strained interpretation of an 
article of the constitution which author- 
ized the sovereign ' ' to make regulations 
and decrees necessary for the execution 
of the laws and the safety of the state." 
By virtue of this clause he assumed the 
right to alter and abrogate some of the 
most essential provisions of the charter. 



On the 25th of July he issued five or- 
dinances, which appeared in the " Moni- 
teur" of the 26th. The first of these 
suspended the liberty of the press ; the 
second dissolved the newly elected cham- 
ber of deputies ; the third radically/ 
changed the system of election ; the 
fourth convoked the chambers for the 
28th of September following, and the 
fifth appointed some ultra royalists to 
the council of state. 

The appearance of these ordinances 
threw Paris into a tumult. The national 
guard took uj) arms, with the veteran 
Lafayette at their head ; the streets were 
barricaded ; the tricolor was displayed 
in the place of the flag of the Bourbons, 
and the royal troops were attacked by 
the citizens. The garrison of Paris was 
commanded by Marshal Marmont, but 
was insufficient to put down the popu- 
lace,* though it obtained some import- 
ant successes. 

Troops Driven from Paris. 

At length the troops began to frater- 
nize with the people. The Louvre and 
Tuileries were carried by the populace 
and the troops were compelled to retreat 
from Paris. Charles X. fled from St. 
Cloud to Rambouillet, where, hopeless 
of regaining his throne, he abdicated it 
in favor of his grandson, the Duke of 
Bordeaux. He then quitted the king- 
dom and took refuge in England. 

In the meantime a number of leading 
citizens of Paris, anxious to keep the 
revolution within bounds, had prevailed 
on the Duke of Orleans, the cousin of 
Charles X., who was known to possess 
liberal opinions, to assume the control 
of the government as lieutenant-general 
of the kingdom. He convoked the two 
chambers for the 3d of August, and 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



149 



those bodies upon assembling declared 
the throne vacant by the abdication of 
the elder branch of the house of Bour- 
bon, and elected Louis Philippe, Duke 
of Orleans, " King of the French." 

Louis Philippe accepted the crown, 
and declared his intention to reign as a 
constitutional sovereign. On the 9th 
of August he took an oath to maintain 
the charter as amended by the cham- 
bers in the interests of popular liberty, 
and ascended the throne in the presence 
of the great officers of the state. Ab- 
solutism was dead in France ; the will 
of the people was supreme. 

An Eye to the Main Chance. 

The new king was the son of the 
notorious " Philippe Egalite," Duke of 
Orleans, who was beheaded during the 
French Revolution, and was in his for- 
ty-seventh year. He was sincere in his 
professions of liberality so long as his 
principles did not conflict with his in- 
terests; but he thoroughly understood 
the art of accommodating himself to 
circumstances. He did not find his new 
position a pleasant one, for the legitim- 
ists, as the partisans of the elder branch 
of the Bourbon family, who supported 
the Duke of Bordeaux, were called, de- 
nounced him as a usurper and a traitor 
to his race ; while the Bonapartists de- 
clared that he had been made king by 
a clique in opposition to the will of the 
people. 

The leading principles of Louis Phil- 
ipj^e's reign were constitutional govern- 
m,.nt at home and peace with foreign 
powers. In the internal administration 
of the kingdom the king sought hon- 
estly to adhere to the charter. Two 
legislative chambers secured the rights 
of the people, and the elections were 



comparatively free. The press was 
nominally unshackled, but the govern- 
ment continued to exercise a mild cen- 
sorship over it. The friendship of 
foreign powers, especially of England, 
was cultivated, and France scrupulously 
refrained from engaging in the affairs of 
any European country, except where 
her own interests were directly con- 
cerned. The internal order of the king- 
dom was seriously disturbed by several 
popular outbreaks during the first years 
of the new reign. 

Popular Discontent. 

The revolution of 1830 affected the 
rest of Europe profoundly. In Italy, 
Germany, and Poland, there were out^ 
breaks of greater or less magnitude. 
Belgium had never been satisfied with 
its compulsory union with Holland in 
18 1 5, and now rose in general insurrec- 
tion against the Dutch government. 
The Dutch troops were driven out of 
Brussels on the 23d of September, after 
a stubborn fight, and took refuge in the 
fortress of Antwerp. The Belgian prov 
inces organized a revolutionary con- 
gress, which now appealed to the five 
great powers of Europe to protect Bel- 
gium against Holland, and King Wil- 
liam at the same time made an appeal 
to the same powers to compel the Bel- 
gians to submit to his authority. 

On the 20th of September, 1830, the 
five powers signed a protocol recogniz- 
ing and guaranteeing the independence 
of Belgium as a separate kingdom, the 
crown of which was bestowed upon 
Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the 
widowed husband of the Princess Char- 
lotte, of England. In June, 1831, Leo- 
pold was proclaimed king by the Bel- 
gian government, and in the course of 



150 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



tlie following year married the Princess 
Louisa, the eldest daughter of King 
Louis Philippe. 

The King of Holland refused to sub- 
mit to the decision of the great powers, 
and declined to evacuate Antwerp, 
which was held by a garison of 4,000 
Dutch troops, under General Chasse. 
He also retained the forts on the Scheldt. 
A treaty was signed between France 
and England for the assistance of the 
Belgians. A French army of 50,000 
men entered Belgium in November and 
laid siege to Antwerp, which, after a 
memorable defence, was forced to sur- 
render on the 23d of December. The 
Dutch king now withdrew his troops 
from Belgium, and the French army at 
once returned to its own country. 

Prominent Statesmen. 

The ministers of Louis Philippe were 
naturally chosen from the Orleanist 
party, which had made him king. Pro- 
minent among these were M. Thiers 
and M. Guizot, men of great abilities 
and widely different opinions. The 
former was regarded as the leader of 
the more liberal wing of the Orleans 
party ; the latter was the avowed cham- 
pion of the extreme monarchical wing. 
M. Thiers came into office in the min- 
istry of Marshal Soult in the spring 
of 1832, as minister of the interior. 
He betrayed a singular inconsistency 
throughout his whole political career. 

When out of office he was the cham- 
pion of the most liberal opinions ; when 
in office he was as conservative as his 
great rival, M. Guizot, himself. On the 
22d of February, 1836, he became prime 
minister, ^pain was at this time torn 
by civil war, and M. Thiers was very 
anxious to intervene in her affairs. The 



king, however, refused to be guided by 
his advice, and the ministry resigned 
after an existence of six months. 

On the 13th of November, 1836, 
Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the 
son of Louis and Hortense, and tht- 
nephew of the Emperor Napoleon, made| 
an attempt to excite a revolt of the gai-' 
rison of Strasburg, for the avowed pur- 
pose of overthrowing the Orleans mon- 
archy and re-establishing the empire. 
The troops refused to join him, and he 
was arrested and sent by way of South 
America to New York. 

England's Bold Move. 

In 1839, Mehemet Ali, the Viceroy of 
Egypt, threw off his allegiance to the 
sultan and conquered Syria. France, 
under the guidance of M. Thiers, who 
was once more prime minister, de- 
manded that Mehemet Ali should be 
allowed to retain Syria and Egypt. 
England, on the other hand, insisted 
on the unconditional surrender of Syria 
to the sultan, and induced the other 
powers to sustain her. The result was 
that the other four great powers, with- 
out communicating their intentions to 
France, signed a treaty with Turkey, 
in virtue of which an English, Aus- 
trian and Turkish fleet reduced the 
Syrian ports and compelled Mehemet 
Ali to withdraw his forces from Syria 
into Egypt. The matter was settled b)'- 
assigning Egypt, in independent hered- 
itary possession, to Mehemet Ali, and 
restoring Syria to the porte. 

The "Quadruple Treaty" was re- 
garded by the French as an act of 
treachery on the part of England, and 
a general desire was expressed for war 
with that country. The principal i'^- 
sults of the excitement were the fortifi- 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



151 



cation of Paris with an enciente and a 
system of detached forts; and the „ fall 
of M. Thiers' ministry, which was re- 
garded as responsible for the advantage 
that had been gained by England. A 
new ministry, under Marshal Soult, was 
installed in October, 1 840. The guid 
ing spirit of this ministry was M. Guizot. 
The qnarrel with England was settled, 
and as a peace-offering Great Britain 
agreed that the remains of the Emperor 
Napoleon should be removed from St. 
Helena to France. They were disin- 
terred and conveyed to France by a 
French squadron, commanded by Prince 
de Joinville, the son of the king. The 
squadron reached Cherbourg on the 8th 
of December, 1840, and the remains 
were transferred to a smaller vessel and 
conveyed up the Seine to Paris, where 
they were interred in the chapel of the 
Hotel des Invalides with the most im- 
posing ceremonies. 

Death of the Heir Apparent. 

On the 13th of July, 1842, the Duke 
of Orleans, the eldest son of Louis 
Philippe and the heir to the throne, 
died from the effects of an accident. He 
left two sons — the Count de Paris and 
the Duke de Chartres. The former, 
who thus became the heir to the throne, 
was born in 1838. 

The harvests of 1846 and 1847 were 
bad, and these failures were followed 
by an era of high prices and great dis- 
tress throughout the kingdom. Wages 
declined and work was scarce. The 
king had never been entirely popular 
with the people, who wished to be rid 
of the whole Bourbon family. The 
general discontent at home was in- 
creased by the frequent failures in the 
foreign policy of France. The Spanish 



marriages, the quadruple treaty, the 
loss of the English alliance, and other 
matters, greatly tended to increase the 
dislike which the masses felt for the 
Orleans monarchy. 

The republicans eagerly fomented this 
discontent, and the policy of the gov- 
ernment, which was growing more con- 
servative every year, greatly simplified 
their task. In the session of the cham- 
bers in 1847 the liberals demanded cer- 
tain reforms which would enforce more 
literally the terms of the charter, but 
the government, under the guidance of 
M. Guizot, firmly refused to grant their 
demands. 

Political Banquets. 

The liberal members of the chamber 
now proposed to give a series of ' ' re- 
form banquets" in Paris and the pro- 
vinces as a means of manifesting the 
strength of their party. A banquet 
was arranged to be given in Paris, but 
was prohibited by the government, and 
it was determined that it should take 
place in spite of this prohibition. The 
government again forbade the banquet. 
The king and his ministers fancied 
themselves secure, when in reality the 
popular discontent had reached such a 
pitch that it was ready to break out in 
revolution at any moment. 

The banquet was abandoned by its 
projectors, who had accomplished their 
plan of placing the government in an 
attitude of hostility to the liberties of 
the people ; but on the 2 2d of February, 
1848, dense crowds filled the streets of 
Paris, shouting, "Vive la Reforme ! " 
An army of nearly 60,000 men had been 
collected by the government in the 
vicinity of Paris, under the vetern Mar- 
shal Bugeaud, but no troops were used 
that day. 



152 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



On the 23d the national guard was 
placed under arms, but showed unmis- 
takable sympath}' with the people, and 
prevented the regular troops from dis- 
persing the crowds in the street. The 
events of this day opened the king's 
eyes to the true state of affairs. M. 
Guizot at once resigned his office, and 
was succeeded by Count Mole, v;ho pro- 
ceeded to form a new ministry. It was 
too late, however, to put down the out- 
break by a change of ministry. That 
night a detachment of troops fired upon 
a body of rioters which had attacked 
them, killing a number of citizens. The 
bodies of the slain were paraded by 
torchlight through the streets of Paris, 
and the republicans and socialists at 
once rose in arms. 

The King Abdicates. 

Barricades were erected, and shouts 
of " Vive la Republique ! " rose from 
the throng — cries that had not been 
heard in France for forty years. Count 
Mole now declined the task of forming 
a new ministry, and M. Thiers was in- 
trusted with it. The first act of the 
new minister was to induce the king to 
order the troops to withdraw from Paris. 
Marshal Bugeaud, upon receiving this 
order, resigned his command in disgust. 
This was on the 24th of February. On 
the same day the troops of the line and 
the national guard joined the people 
and marched upon the Tuileries. Louis 
Philippe, feeling that all was lost, 
signed his abdication in favor of his 
grandson, the Count de Paris, and with- 
drew to St. Cloud. 

The insurgents, however, paid no at- 
tention to this abdication. The Duchess 
of Orleans, with her little son, appeared 
in the chamber of deputies and besought 



them to sustain the claim of her child 
to his grandfather's throne. The mob 
broke into the hall at this juncture, and 
she was compelled to seek safety in 
flight. The royal family fled to Eng- 
land, where they obtained an asylum. 
There Louis Philippe died on the 26th 
of August, 1850, at the age of seventy- 
seven years. 

France a Republic. 

On the 24th of February the republic 
was proclaimed, and a provisional gov- 
ernment, consisting of Lamartine, Du- 
pont de I'Eure, Arago, Ledru-Rollin, 
Marie, Garnier-Pages, and Cremieux, 
was installed. There was great danger 
that the revolution of 1848 would de- 
generate into a socialist insurrection, 
which would have plunged France into 
deeper misery and have drawn upon 
her the enmity of all Europe. 

The eloquence of Eamartine secured 
the adhesion of the populace to the re- 
public. The mob had already sacked 
the Tuileries, burned the throne, and 
raised the red flag. Moved by the ap- 
peals of Lamartine 100,000 national 
guards declared for the provisional gov- 
ernment. The socialists were com- 
pelled to submit, and the better class of 
citizens, who dreaded a triumph of that 
party, gave their hearty support to the 
republic, 

A new element now entered into the 
politics of the republic. Prince Louis 
Napoleon Bonaparte made a second at- 
tempt at revolution at Boulogne, in 1840. 
He was captured, and sentenced by the 
court of peers to imprisonment for life 
in the Castle of Ham. In May, 1846, 
he made his escape in the disguise of a 
workman, and sought refuge in Eng- 
land. He was now elected to the as- 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



163 



sembly from the department of the 
Seine. The government declared its 
intention to prevent his return to France, 
and he resigned his seat. 

A new election was ordered, and he 
(vas returned by five different depart- 
ments. This decided manifestation of 
/the popular will induced the govern- 
ment to withdraw its opposition. L/Ouis 
Napoleon then crossed the channel, and 
on the 26th of September took his seat 
as a member for the department of the 
Seine. His name aroused the greatest 
enthusiasm among the French people, 
and without having done anything to 
deserve it, he found himself the most J 
popular man in France. The cause of 
his popularity lay in the fact that he 
Was the heir of the great emperor. 

President Napoleon in. 

Profiting by this popularity he an- 
nounced himself a candidate for the pre- 
sidency of the republic, and at the elec- 
tion on the loth of December, 1848, 
was chosen president by a vote of 5,500,- 
000 out of a total vote of 7,326,000, re- 
ceiving a large majority over General 
Cavaignac and all his other competitors 
combined. On the 20th of December 
he entered upon the duties of his office, 
and took up his official reside'ice at the 
palace of the Elysee . 

The national assembly was divided 
into a number of parties. One of these 
supported the president ; another was 
devoted to the interests of the legiti- 
mists ; a third to those of the Orleans 
family ; and a fourth consisted of the 
socialist deputies. With the exception 
of the first all of these were hostile to 
the president. The legitimist and Or- 
leanist parties were plotting for the 
overthrow of the republic and the res- 



toration of the monarchy ; the socialists 
were busy working for the downfall of 
the republic and the inauguration of 
the reign of communism. 

These parties hated each other in- 
tensely, and were united only in their 
enmity to the president. They wished 
to overthrow him first, and then settle 
their quarrels among themselves. In 
this unhappy state of affairs the hopea 
of the nation rested upon the president. 
Seeing that the fall of the republic was 
inevitable, and knowing that neither 
of the contending parties possessed the 
confidence or represented the wishes of 
the French people, Louis Napoleon re- 
solved to overthrow them all, seize the 
entire government, and appeal to the 
people to sustain him. Kis plans were 
laid with skill and carried out with 
boldness and decision. 

Assembly Dissolved. 

On the night of December i, 185 1, 
the leading members of the assembly 
were arrested, and the government 
printing-office was occupied by troops. 
Decrees and proclamations were struck 
off during the night for use on the 
morrow. The army was devoted to the 
president and readily aided him in 
carrying out this Conp d^ Etat. 

On the morning of December second 
the Parisians were astonished by proc- 
lamations from the president announc- 
ing that the national assembly was 
dissolved; that universal suffrage was 
restored ; that a general election was 
ordered for the fourteenth of December; 
that Paris and the department of the 
Seine were placed under martial law. 

Another decree gave the names of the 
new ministry, stated that the president 
would submit to the suffrages of the 



154 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



people a new constitution containing 
the following provisions : A responsible 
chief magistrate was to be chosen for 
ten years ; the ministers were to be re- 
sponsible to the president alone ; a coun- 
cil of state was to originate laws, which 
were to be discussed and voted by a 
legislative cham^ber ; and a senate was 
to be created, whose duty it should be 
to watch over the constitution and pre- 
vent infractions of it. 

This constitution was submitted to 
the people on the twentieth of Decem- 
ber, and was ratified by the votes of 
7,500,000 Frenchmen. With the in- 
auguration of the new government per- 
sonal rule was re-established, and the 
experiment of constitutional govern- 
ment in France came to an end. The 
majority of the French people were 
satisfied with the change. 

A Direful Panic. 

In the meantime, however, the Roy- 
alists and Republicans of Paris, recov- 
ering from their surprise, took up arms 
against the president. An army of 48,- 
000 men was directed against them on 
the second and third of December, and 
their resistance was soon put down. 
On the fourth the troops, in a sudden 
and causeless panic, fired upon a crowd 
of unoffending citizens, killing large 
tiumbers of them. Many prisoners were 
taken by the troops from the insurgents. 
These were put to death in crowds in 
the prisons, and 20,500 persons were 
banished to Cayenne. 

It had been foreseen from the first 
that the president would not rest satis- 
fied wiih the extension of his term of 
office. He was following in the foot- 
steps of his uncle, the great emperor, 
whose heir he was, and the restoration 



of the empire was the end of his schemes- 
At a grand banquet given to him at 
Bordeaux on the 9th of October, 1852, 
the president foreshadowed his inten- 
tions in his memorable utterance, "The 
Empire is Peace." 

On the twenty-first of November the 
electors were called upon to vote upon' 
a plebiscite declaring L,ouis Napoleon 
Bonaparte hereditary Emperor of the 
French, with the right of regulating the 
order of succession co the throne in his 
family. It was accepted by 7,824,189 
suffrages, to 253,145 against it. On 
the 2nd of December, 1852, the newly 
elected sovereign, who took the title 
of " Napoleon III., Emperor of the 
French," made his solemn entry into 
Paris. On the 29th of January, 1853, 
he married Eugenie Marie de Guzman, 
Countess of Teba, a lady of great beauty, 
and descended from one of the most 
illustrious families of Spain. By her he 
had one son, Napoleon Eugene Louis, 
born March 16, 1856. 

French and English Alliance. 

The first effort of the new emperor 
was to gain the moral support which 
would result from an alliance with 
Great Britain. In order to effect this 
alliance he adopted the English policy 
concerning the Eastern question. Early- 
in 1853 the Czar of Russia, believing 
that the Turkish empire in Europe was 
hastening to its fall, made secret over- 
tures to the British government to join 
him in a division of the dominions of 
the sultan. The proposals were rejected , 
and England gladly availed herself jf 
the proffered alliance of France. 

Matters were not long in coming to a 
crisis. The Emperor Nicholas col- 
lected a large fleet and army at Sebas- 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



155 



topol, and sent Prince Mentschikoff to 
Constantinople to demand of the sultan 
larger powers of control over the holy 
places of Syria and Palestine, and a pro- 
tectorate over all the Greek Christians 
within the Turkish dominions. This 
would have made him the sovereign of 
the majority of the sultan's subjects. 
A few weeks later the Russian armies 
occupied the Turkish provinces of Mol- 
davia and Wallachia. 

The Turkish government was panic- 
Etricken, and but for the firmness of 
Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the British 
ambassador, who assured the sultan of 
the support of his government, would 
have yielded to the Russian demand. 
He encouraged the sultan to resist the 
unreasonable demands of the czar, and 
in the meantime a congress of the pleni- 
potentiaries of Austria, Prussia, France 
and England met at Vienna, and en- 
deavored to settle the difficulty by 
negotiations. 

War with Russia. 

Their efforts failing, the sultan de- 
i-dared war against Russia in October, 
1853. The Turkish army under Omar 
Pasha at once crossed the Danube, and 
defeated the Russians at Oltenitza. In 
January, 1854, the Russians were re- 
pulsed in a four days' assault upon the 
Turkish lines at Kalafat, and retreated. 
On the 30th of November, 1853, a 
Russian fleet from Sebastopol made a 
descent upon Sinope, destroyed a Turk- 
ish squadron in the harbor, and bom- 
barded the town, killing 4,000 people. 

The French and English govern- 
ments now demanded that the czar 
should withdraw his troops from the 
Turkish territorv. Nicholas refused to 
answer this note, which informed him 



that his failure to reply would be taken 
as a declaration of war. In March, 
1854, France and England entered into 
a close alliance with each other and 
with Turkey, and declared war against 
Russia. The Russian army under Prince 
Paskiewitch laid siege to Silistria, in 
April, but the Turks defended the placr 
with such vigor that the siege was 
raised in about a month. A little later 
the Russians were defeated by the Turks 
at Giurgevo, and abandoned the Danu- 
bian provinces and retreated into their 
own country. 

Heights of Alma Stormed. 

By this retreat the cause of the inter- 
vention of France and England was 
removed. Tliey resolved, however, to 
break the power of Russia in the Black 
Sea by destroying the fortifications of 
the great stronghold of Sebastopol, the 
chief town of the Crimea. A com- 
bined expedition was despatched to the 
Crimea, and the troops were landed near 
the mouth of the river Alma. The next 
day, September 20, 1854, the Russian 
position on the heights above that 
stream was stormed and carried after a 
gallant resistance. 

The allies now advanced upon Sebas- 
topol, the fleet following along the coast 
and occupied the port of Balaklava. 
Sebastopol was immediately invested. 
The town was defended by the Russian 
General Todleben, and its resistance of 
nearly a year is one of the most memor- 
able events in history. The siege was in' 
reality a blockade, as the Russians were 
able during the whole time to maintain 
communication with their country north 
of the city. They made several vigor- 
ous attempts to break up the investment. 

On the 25th of October, 1854, the 



156 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 



battle of Balaklava was fought for this 
purpose. It was made memorable by a 
heroic but fruitless charge of the Eng- 
lish "Light Brigade" of cavalry upon 
the Russian artillery. On the 5th of 
November the Russians hurled a heavy 
i^rce upon the English lines at Inker- 
niann, but were held in check until the 
arrival of a reinforcement of French 
troops made the victory sure for the al- 
lies. Still later, on the i6th of August, 
1855, the Russians made their last at- 
tempt in the stubbornly fought battle 
of the Tchernaya, to raise the siege, but 
were repulsed. Sardinia had by this 
time joined the alliance of France and 
England, as has been related, and the 
Piedmontese troops won great credit in 
this last battle. 

Fall of Sebastopoi. 

On the 8th of September, 1855, the 
French stormed and carried the Mala- 
koflf Tower, the key to the Russian de- 
duces, and the English at the same 
time carried the important work of the 
Great Redan. These successes cost the 
allies heavily, but resulted in the evac- 
uation of Sebastopoi by the Russians. 
The city was occupied by the allies, the 
Russians retiring to the forts north of 
the harbor. 

In the meantime the English and 
French fleets had entered the Baltic and 
Polar Seas, and had inflicted consider- 
able loss upon the Russians in those 
quarters. Previous to the fall of Sebas- 
topoi a British fleet entered the Sea of 
Azov and captured Kertch and Veni- 
kale. 

These disasters of Russia were partly 
atoned for by the success of her forces 
in the Trans-Caucasian provinces. Kars 
was taken by the Russian army after a 



heroic resistance and other conquests of 
im.portance were made. 

The Mexican republic was debtor to 
certain citizens of France, England, and 
Spain, and resisted every effort of those 
powers to collect their claims. The 
debt to these three powers was about 
$73,000,000, of which ;^263,49o were 
due to France. Finding it impossible 
to collect their claims by negotiation, 
the three governments in 1861 arranged 
a joint expedition to Mexico, to compel 
her to make provision for payment. 
France from the first determined to 
make this expedition the means of ac- 
quiring a footing in Mexico, which 
should lead to the conquest of that 
country, and the establishment of a 
Eatin empire in America. The scheme 
was in reality a revival in another form 
of the old French dream of a great 
American dominion. 

The French in Mexico. 

The expedition consisted of eighty- 
one vessels, carrying 1,611 guns and 
27,911 sailors and troops. It reached 
Vera Cruz in December, 1861. The 
city and its defences were evacuated by 
the Mexicans, and were occupied by 
the Spanish troops. In the early part 
of the year 1862 England and Spain, 
having become convinced of the designs 
of France, arranged their difficulties 
with Mexico by the convention of Soli- 
dad, signed on the 15th of February, 
and in April withdrew their forces from 
the expedition. 

Left alone, France reinforced her 
army, and placed it under command of 
General Forey. During the remainder 
of the year 1862 the French were put to 
great exertions to hold their own against 
the Mexicans. In March, 1863, having 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



157 



been reinforced from France, General 
Forey laid siege to Pnebla, which was 
defended with great gallantry by the 
Mexicans, and captnred it on the i8th 
of May, after a siege of two months. 
The Mexicans had based their hopes of 
saving the capital upon the defence of 
Pnebla, and made no eflfort to defend 
the city of Mexico, which was entered 
by the French army on the loth of June, 
1863. 

The Emperor Napoleon now pro- 
ceeded to carry his designs respecting 
Mexico into execution. A council of 
notables was summoned, and under a 
controlling French influence declared 
in favor of the abolition of the repub- 
lic, and the establishment of a heredi- 
tary empire as the best form of govern- 
ment for the country. The notables 
subsequently chose the Archduke Max- 
imilian, the brother of the Emperor 
of Austria, to be Emperor of Mexico. 
These acts were submitted to the vote of 
the Mexican people, who, under the inti- 
midation of the French, ratified them.. 

Our Country Intervenes- 

In 1866, the Civil War in the United 
States being ended, the American gov- 
ernment, which had viewed the course 
of France in Mexico with avowed dis- 
pleasure, demanded of the Emperor 
Napoleon the withdrawal of his troops 
from Mexico. After some hesitation 
Napoleon consented to comply with this 
demand, and the withdrawal of the 
French troops was begun towards the 
close of 1866, the result being that 
rvlaximilian was betrayed by one of his 
Mexican generals, was captured and 
shot on June 19, 1867. 

Alarmed at the rapid increase tf the 
power of I russia, the Emperor Napo- 



leon, through M. Benedetti, his minis- 
ter at Berlin, demanded the transfer to 
France of the territory on the left bank 
of the Rhine as a compensation to 
France for the great growth of the 
Prussian power. Count Bismarck met 
the demand with firmness and imme- 
diately pronounced it "inadmissible." 
It was at once withdrawn. 

Scheme to Annex Belgium. 

France then proposed to Prussia a 
scheme for the annexation of Belgium 
to France, and declared that if Prussia 
would support her in it, she in her turn 
wonld support Prussia in the subjection 
of south Germany to the rule of that 
power. Bismarck gave no definite an- 
swer to this proposition, but laid Count 
Benedetti's draft of the proposed treaty 
among the Prussian archives. The 
Emperor Napoleon then attempted to 
purchase the duchy of Luxembourg 
from Holland. The Dutch king, who 
was greatly in need of money, was anx- 
ious to sell, but the scheme was foiled 
by Bismarck, who claimed Luxembourg 
as a part of the old German Confedera- 
tion, and garrisoned it with Prussian 
troops. The North German Confedera- 
tion protested against the sale, and the 
transaction was discontinued. 

These diplomatic defeats seriously 
damaged the prestige of France. A con- 
siderable party was anxious to go to war 
with Prussia, but the emperor wisely 
refused to comply with their demand. 
The French army was inferior to that 
of Prussia, and had not yet adopted the 
breech-loading gun, without which it 
would have been folly to attack a power 
as well equipped as Prussia. As it was 
believed that a struggle with Prussia 
was inevitable, the work of reorganiz- 



158 



FRANCE IN THB NINBTEENTH CENTURY. 



iiig the French army was pushed for- 
ward with vigor. 

Since the establishment of the empire, 
France had made a great gain in material 
prosperity. The eighteen years of Na- 
poleon's rule were the most prosperous 
period the nation had ever experienced. 
The administrative talents of the em- 
peror were second only to those of the 
great Napoleon, and under his liberal 
policy the French commerce was care- 
fully built up, the railroad system of the 
country was extended, and the manu- 
facturing and mining interests were ex- 
panded. The principal cities of the 
empire were enlarged, improved, and 
beautified, and Paris was made the most 
splendid capital of Europe. 

War with Prussia. 

In the spring of 1 870 the Spaniards en- 
deavored to secure a king, their throne 
having been left vacant by the revolu- 
tion of 1868. France was anxious that 
the young Prince of Asturias, the son 
of Queen Isabella, should be chosen ; but 
the choice of the Spaniards fell upon 
Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sig- 
maringen, a distant relative of the King 
of Prussia. This selection was opposed 
by France, and was made the pretext 
for a war with Prussia. The Emperor 
Napoleon was by no means anxious for 
war, but was forced to yield by the 
popular clamor and the importunities 
of the empress and his counsellors. 

At this juncture Count Bismarck 
published the draft of the secret treaty 
which M. Benedetti had proposed to 
him for the acquisition of Belgium by 
France. This publication aroused a 
great deal of indignation towards 
France in Europe, especially in Great 
Britain, which had constituted herself 



the special guardian of Belgian inde^ 
pendence. The British government de- 
manded of Napoleon ample guarantees 
for the observance by France of the 
neutrality of Belgium in the struggle 
at hand. Wat was at once declared 
against Prussia. The hope which tlie 
French government had entertained of 
separating south Germany from the 
northern federation was destroyed by 
the prompt action of the south German 
states in support of Prussia. 

Soon after the declaration of war the 
emperor appointed the Empress Eu- 
genie regent during his absence, and 
repaired with the prince imperial to 
Metz. There he found the French 
army but imperfectly prepared for the 
struggle before it, notwithstanding the 
assertion of his minister of war that 
every preparation was complete. 

French Armies Defeated- 

The news of the first French disasters 
plunged Paris into great despondency. 
The senate and corps legislatif were 
convened by the empress on the ninth 
of August, and the Ollivier ministry 
was forced to resign. A new ministry, 
under Count Palikao, succeeded it. 
General Trochu, who was regarded as 
an able soldier, was appointed governor 
of Paris, and measures were pushed for- 
ward for the defence of the city. 

The news of the surrender of the em- 
peror and MacMahon's army at Sedan 
aroused a storm of excitement at Paris. 
The streets were filled with a wild 
throng of citizens and national guards, 
who surrounded the palace of the corps 
legislatif, and demanded the overthrow 
of the Bonapartes. Jules Favre, in the 
legislative chamber, declared that the 
empire had ceased to exist, and accom- 



FRANCE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



159 



panied by a number of republican depu- 
ties repaired to the Hotel de Ville, and 
organized a provisional government, 
consisting of MM. Arago, Cremieux, 
Favre, Ferry, Gambetta, and others. 

The mob attacked the Tuileries, but 
met with no resistance. The empress, 
deserted by all her attendants but one, 
and by every domestic, was saved by 



mand was refused by the French gov- 
ernment, which declared that it -A^ould 
not give up " an inch of its land oi a 
stone of its fortresses." M. Thiers, 
though seventy-three years old, made a 
joirrney to the courts of England, Rus- 
sia, Austria, and Italy, to ask the me- 
diation and moral support of those 
powers in behalf of France — but with- 




ESCAPB OF THE EMPRESS 
the timely arrival of a devoted friend. 
Dr. Evans, an American, who enabled 
her to escape to England, where she 
was joined by the prince imperial. 

The provisional government was 
anxious to make peace with Ger- 
many, but the King of Prussia demanded 
the cession of Alsace and Lorraine, 
which had been partly overrun by his 
armies, as the price of peace. The de- 



EUGENIE FROM FRANCE. 

out success. In the meantime the Ger- 
mans advanced to Paris, and invested 
the city. Communication between the 
capital and the provinces was main' 
tained by means of balloons. 

]M. Gambetta, a member of the pro- 
visional government, escaped from Paris 
in a balloon, and reached Orleans in 
safety. He at once began to prepare 
the provinces for resistance, and in or 



160 



France: in the ninetebmth century. 



der to accomplish his ends assumed dic- 
tatorial powers. His efforts were lib- 
erally responded to by the nation, and 
several new armies were placed in the 
field, but the German troops steadily 
advanced from victory to victory. 

In January, 1871, the city and outly- 
ing forts of Paris were surrendered to 
the Germans. An armistice of three 
weeks was entered into in order to 
give the French people an opportunity 
to organize a government competent to 
conclude a general peace. The new 
government at once addressed itself to 
the task of concluding a treaty of peace 
with the victors, and on the 26th of 
February the preliminaries of peace 
were signed at Versailles. With the 
exception of a garrison of 40,000 men 
in Paris, all the French troops retired 
south of the Loire. On the ist of March 
a detachment of the German army en- 
tered Paris, but withdrew from the city 
on the 3d. 

Anarchy Triumphant. 

In the confusion which followed the 
surrender of Paris, the national guards 
were masters of the city. They seized 
a large number of cannon, and carried 
them to the heights of Montmartre, 
where they entrenched themselves. 
General Vinoy, commanding the garri- 
son of the city, attempted to dislodge 
them, but without success. Vinoy then 
withdrew his troops to Versailles for 
the protection of the assembly, and the 
insurgents occupied the Hotel de Ville, 
and organized a government which took 
the name of the " Commune." 

It declared itself the champion of 
municipal freedom, and might have ac- 
complished much for the cause, but 
unhappily the " commune " now passed 



out of the hands of its moderate mek.- 
bers into those of the revolutionary or 
socialist element which had given such 
trouble in 1848, and had been held 
down by the empire. The worst ele- 
ments of the city came into power withir 
the walls, robbed the banks, arrested 
imprisoned, or put to death the good 
men who sought to control them, and 
declared that Paris should be destroyed 
if they could not hold it. 

Paris Again Besieged. 

A reign of terror ensued, and the 
forces of the government, under the 
command of Marshal MacMahon, which 
held possession of the majority of the 
outer forts, invested the city, and sub- 
jected it to a second siege. Several 
severe battles were fought between the 
troops of the government and those of 
the commune, and though the latter 
were routed with great loss, they held 
the city with such obstinacy that the 
government was forced to ask leave of 
Germany, to increase its army north of 
the Loire. 

Paris suffeied in this siege more than 
it had during the German bombardment. 
The government forces made steady 
progress, and at length the outer forts 
were entirely in their possession. As 
their final defeat became apparent the 
communists avenged themselves by 
overturning the Napoleon column in 
the Place Vendome. 

On the 2ist of May the government 
troops forced their way into the city, and 
during the night the communists pre- 
pared for their last resistance. For the 
next eight days a desperate struggle 
was waged for the possession of the city. 
The communists contested every foot of 
ground, and as they were beaten back 



PRANCI^ IN "tun NiNfiTfiENtH CENTttRV. 



161 



murdered the venerable Archbishop of 
Paris and a number of other hostages, 
and set fire to the Louvre, the Tuileries, 
(he Hotel de Ville, and a number of 
other public buildings. 

An effort was made to burn the city, 
but was defeated by the government 
troops. At length, on the twenty-eighth 
■ nd twenty-ninth, the last j^ositions of 
he communists were stormed and the 
nisin'rection was at an end. Innnense 
numbers of the insurgents of both se.ces 
were shot down by the troops during 
the fighting, and thousands of prisoners 
were taken. Multitudes of these were 
shot by order of the court-martial at 
Versailles for participation in the insur- 
rection. These military executions con- 
tinued until the world was sick of them. 

On the lothof May, i87i,the definite 
treaty of peace was signed at Frankfort 
oetween France and Germany. 

The Immense Debt Paid. 

The revolt of the commune being 
over, the government devoted itself en- 
ergetically to the task of restoring the 
prosperity of the country and putting an 
end to the occupation of the provinces 
by the Germans. By the terms of the 
treaty of Frankfort, the sum of 5,000,- 
000,000 francs, or ;^ 1,000,000, 000, was 
to be paid to Germany as an indemnity. 
This immense sum was to be paid by 
instalments ranging over three years. 

As security for the debt, the German 
army was to occupy, at the expense of 
France, the greater part of the territory 
which it had overrun ; but the depart- 
ments were to be successively evacuated, 
in a specified order, as the instalments 
were paid. The first eflfort of the gov- 
trnment was to raise a loan of $400,- 
Joo.ooo. which enabled it to pay during 
11 



the month of June three instalments 
of the German debt, and thus to secure 
the evacuation of the Paris forts and a 
considerable portion of the territory 
held by the Germans. 

This gained for the government of 
President Thiers the hearty support of 
the nation, and the co-operation of the 
assembly. After the adjournment of 
the assembly in September, M. Thiers , 
made satisfactory arrangements for the 
payment of the fourth half milliard of 
the German debt in the ensuing spring, 
and so restricted the German occupation 
to six of the eastern departments. 

Germans Sent Home. 

M. Thiers also succeeded in perfect- 
ing arrangements by which the whole 
of the German debt was discharged, and 
the country entirely evacuated bv the 
foreign army, in the early part of Sep- 
tember, 1873, a year and a half in ad- 
vance of the time fixed by the treaty of 
Frankfort The money for this purpose 
was raised by means of popular loans 
which were readily taken by the French 
people, who cordially sustained the 
president's efforts to rid the country of 
the presence of the conquerors. 

During the latter part of the summer 
of 1 87 1 the title of M. Thiers was 
changed from "Chief of the Executive 
Power" to that of "President of the 
French Republic." 

On the 9th of January, 1873, the ex- 
Emperor Napoleon III. died at Chisel- 
hurst, in England, where he had resided 
since his release from captivity. His 
death was sincerely regretted by the 
French people, to whom, in spite of his 
many faults, he had been a wise and 
generous friend. By the death of the 
ex-emperor the plans of the imperialist 



162 



FRANCE IN THK NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



party in France were for the time en- 
tirely overthrown. 

The government now felt itself strong 
enongh to proceed with the trial of 
Marshal Bazaine for the loss of Metz 
during the war with Germany. He was 
charged with treason in surrendering 
liis army and the fortress of Metz with- 
out sufficient cause; and on the loth of 
December was found guilty by the 
court-martial, and was sentenced to 
death. His sentence was commuted by 
President MacMahon to degradation 
from his rank and twenty years impris- 
onment. He was confined in the fort- 
ress of the island of St. Marguerite, but 
succeeded in escaping from it during 
the summer of 1874. 

Brilliant Statesman Dead. 

In 1879 M. Jules Grevy was elected 
president of the republic by the assem- 
bly. The choice for president of the 
assembly fell on Gambetta, who, after 
an almost unexampled career of pop- 
ularity, died December 31, 1882, and 
thereby was removed the most brilliant 
statesman and strongest personal force 
in the councils of the nation. Owing 
to the scandals connected with the sale 
and purchase of decorations. President 
Grevy resigned in November, 1887, ^nd 
M. Carnot was chosen as his successor. 

At Lyons, on June 24, 1894, Presi- 
dent Carnot was assassinated by an 
Italian anarchist. Great excitement pre- 
vailed throughout the country. The 
Senate and House of Representatives at 
Washington adjourned in honor of the 
French president. On June 27th the 
National Assembly elected M. Casimir- 
Perier to be the successor of President 



Carnot. The new president retained 
his office but a short time. On January 
15, 1895, he resigned, and on the seven- 
teenth of the same month, M. Francois 
Felix Fan re was elected to be his suc- 
cessor. On account of the sudden death 
of President Faure, whose adminis- 
tration of affairs was successful, the 
distinguished Loubet was appointed 
president by the National Assembly. 

Famous Dreyfus Trial. 

In 1897 Captain Dreyfus, an officer in 
the French army, was accused and tried 
for treason, and was convicted. The 
specific charge was the sale of govern- 
ment secrets to German officials con- 
cerning the equipments and movements 
of the French army. Dreyfus was sent- 
enced to imprisonment for life. It was 
believed by many distinguished persons 
that he was not the real culprit, and 
that the fact of his being a Jew would 
account for the charge being laid upon 
him that should properly have been 
attached to others. Emile Zola, the 
celebrated author, espoused his cause 
with great ardor and was himself tried 
for charges made against the French 
military authorities, and convicted and 
sentenced to pay a fine. 

The injustice done to Dreyfus would 
not slumber. The case was reopiened 
and after a most exciting trial in the 
summer of 1899, he was again convicted 
by a military tribunal, but with a recom- 
mendation to mercy. By this verdici 
the military power shielded itself, and, 
by a swift pardon from President Lou- 
bet, Dreyfus was restored to his position 
in the army and was relieved of the 
charp-es brought against him. 



CHAPTER XI. 



The New German Empire. 



IN common with all the rest of Eu- 
rope Germany was disturbed and 
deeply agitated by the ambitious 
schemes of Napoleon at the begin- 
ning of the nineteenth century. Francis 
II. came to the throne in 1792, and after 
a series of defeats by the armies of the 
French Republic, and the adhesion, in 
1805, of many of the German princes 
to the alliance of France, which led to 
the subsequent formation of the Rhenish 
Confederation under the protectorate of 
Napoleon, resigned the German crown, 
and assumed the title of Emperor of 
Austria. 

From this period till the Congress of 
Vienna, 1814-15, Gei..iany was almost 
entirely at the mercy of Napoleon, who 
deposed the established sovereigns, and 
dismembered their states in favor of his 
partisans and dependants, while he crip, 
pled the trade of the country, and ex- 
hausted its resources by the extortion 
of subsidies or contributions. 

The second peace of Paris, in 18 14, 
restored to Germany all that had be- 
longed to her in 1792, and as a recon- 
struction of the old empire was no longer 
possible, those states which still main- 
tained their sovereignty combined, in 
1 8 1 5, to form a German Confederation. 
Of the three hundred states into which 
the empire had once been divided there 
now remained only thirty-nine, a num- 
ber which was afterwards reduced to 
'hirty-five by the extinction of several 
petty dynasties. 

The diet was now reorganized, and 
appointed to hold its meetings at Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, after having been for- 



mally recognized by all the allied states 
as the legislative and executive organ 
of the confederation ; but it failed to 
satisfy the expectations of the nation, 
and soon became a mere political tool 
in the hands of the princes, who simply 
made its decrees subservient .:> their 
own efforts for the suppression O- sver)^ 
progressive movement. 

New Government Organized. 

The festival of the Wartburg, and 
the assassination of Kotzebue, were 
seized as additional excuses for reaction; 
and though the French Revolution of 
1830 so influenced some few of the Ger- 
man States as to compel their rulers to 
grant written constitutions to their sub- 
jects, the effect was transient, and it was 
not till 1848 that the German nation 
gave expression, by open insurrectionary 
movements, to the discontent and the 
sense of oppression which had long pos- 
sessed the minds of the people. The 
princes endeavored by hasty concession-s 
to arrest the progress of republican prin- 
ciples, and, fully recognizing the in- 
efficiency of the diet, they gave their 
sanction to the convocation, by a pro- 
visional self-constituted assembly, of a 
national congress of representatives o*^" 
the people. 

Archduke John of Austria was elected 
Vicar of the newly-organized national 
government; but he soon disappointed 
the hopes of the assembly by his evident 
attempts to frustrate an energetic action 
on the side of the parliament, while the 
speedy success of the anti-republican 
partv in Austria and Prussia damped 

163 



164 



THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 



the hopes of the progressionists. The 
refusal of the king of Prussia to accept 
the imperial crown which the parlia- 
ment offered him in 1 849, was followed 
by the election of a provisional regency 
of the empire; but as nearly half the 
members had declined taking part in 
;hese proceedings, or in a previous meas- 
ure, by which Austria had been ex- 
cluded, by a single vote, from the Ger- 
man Confederation, the assembly soon 
lapsed into a state of anarchy and im- 
potence, which terminated in its dis- 
solution. 

Insurrections Suppressed. 

The sanguinary manner in which in- 
surrectionary movements had in the 
neanwhilebeen suppressed by Prussian 
troops both in Prussia and Saxony put 
an effectual end to republican demon- 
strations; and in 1850 Austria and Prus- 
sia, after exhibiting mutual jealousy and 
ill-will which more than once seemed 
likely to end in war, combined to restore 
the diet, whose first acts were the inter- 
vention in Sleswick-Holstein in favor 
of Denmark, and the abolition of the 
free constitutions of several of the lesser 
states. 

From that period the diet became the 
srena in which Austria and Prussia 
strove to secure the supremacy and 
championship of Germany ; every meas- 
ure of public interest was made subser- 
vient to the views of one or other of 
these rival powers ; and the Sleswick- 
Holstein difficulties were the principal 
questions under discussion in the federal 
parliament, down to the rupture between 
Prussia and Austria, and the dissolution 
of the Bund in 1866. 

The immediate occasion of the war 
of J'866 was the difference that arose 



between Prussia and Austria, after the 
convention of Gastein, 1865, as to the 
occupation and disposal of the territory 
taken from Denmark in the short war 
of 1864. But the real grounds lay in 
that rivalry between the two states fc 
the leadership of Germany which ha 
shown itself at many epochs of thei^ 
history. There can be little doubt that 
the feeling of the German people, as 
distinguished from the princes and bu- 
reaucracy, had, in recent times at least 
been in favor of the purely German 
Prussia as their leader, rather than 
Austria. 

And when the parliament of Frank- 
fort, in 1849, offered the imperial crown 
to the king of Prussia, the unity of Ger- 
many might have been secured without 
bloodshed, had the monarch been less 
scrupulous, or had he had a Bismarc'' 
for his adviser. But that opportunit'- 
being let slip, and the incubus of tht 
"Bund" being restored, it became ap- 
parent that the knot must be cut by the 
sword. 

Austria and Prussia. 

By the treaty of Gastein Austria and 
Prussia agreed to a joint occupation of 
the Elbe duchies; but to prevent colli- 
sion it was judged prudent that Austria 
should occupy Holstein, and Prussia 
Sleswick. Already a difference of pol- 
icy had begun to show itself: Prussia 
was believed to have the intention of 
annexing the duchies ; while Austria 
began to favor the claims of Prince 
Frederick of Augustenburg. In the 
meantime, both nations were making 
ready for the struggle ; and Italy, look- 
ing upon the quarrel as a precious op- 
portunity to strike a blow for the liber- 
ation of Venetia, had secretly entered 
into an alliance with Prussia. 



THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 



16« 



xn the sitting of the German diet, 
June I, 1866, Austria, disregarding the 
convention of Gastein, placed the whole 
matter at the disposal of the Bund, and 
then proceeded to convoke the states of 
Holstein "to assist in the settlement of 
the future destiny of the duchy." Prus- 
sia protested against this as an insult 
and a violation of treaty ; demanded the 
re-establishment of the joint occupation ; 
and, while inviting Austria to send 
troops into Sleswick, marched troops of 
her own into Holstein. 

"Act of Violence." 

Instead of responding to this invita- 
tion, Austria withdrew her forces alto- 
gether from Holstein, under protest; 
and then, calling attention to this "act 
of violence ' ' on the part of Prussia, pro- 
posed that the diet should decree " fed- 
eral execution" against the enemy of 
the empire This eventful resolution 
was carried by a great majority on the 
14th of June, 1866; Hanover, Saxony, 
Hesse-Cassel and Hesse Darmstadt vot- 
ing for it. The resolution having pa^ssed, 
the Prussian plenipotentiary, in the 
name of his government, declared [he 
German Confederation dissolved for 
ever, and immediately withdrev/. 

Thereupon identical notes were sent 
by Prussia to the courts of Saxony, 
Hanover and Hesse-Cassel. The terms 
were not accepted, and the Prussian 
troops at once took military possession 
of the three kingdoms without resist- 
ance. War was now declared against 
Austria ; the Prussian host, numbering 
in all 225,400 men, with 774 guns, in- 
vaded Boheiuia at three several points. 
The Austrians, who had been surprised 
in a state of ill-organized unreadiness, 
had assembled an army of 262,400 men 



and 716 guns; and the greater portion 
of these were stationed, under General 
Benedek, behind the Riesengebirge, 
expecting the attack from Silesia. 

The Prussian armies in the meantime 
crossed the Erzgebirge without opposi- 
tion, drove the Aiistrian army steadily 
and quickly back with heavy losses, and 
after effecting a junction moved steadily 
forward to meet the Austrian army, now 
concentrated between Sadowa and Ko- 
niggratz. Here, on July 3d, was fought 
the decisive battle. The Austrian cav- 
alry made heroic efforts to turn the tide 
of victory; but the stern, trained valor 
of the Prussians, armed with the till 
then little known breech-loadinof "nee- 
die-gun," was invincible, and the Aus- 
trian army was broken and dissolved in 
precipitate flight. 

Disabtrous Defeat. 

The Prussians lost upwards of 9000 
killed and wounded ; the Austrian loss 
was 16,235 killed and wounded, and 
22,684 prisoners. After this decisive 
defeat, which is known as the battle ol 
Koniggratz or Sadowa, all hope of stay- 
ing the advance of the Prussians with 
the army of Benedek was at an end ; a 
truce was asked for, but refused ; and 
not till the victorious Prussians had 
pushed forward towards Vienna, whither 
Benedek had drawn his beaten forces, 
was a truce obtained through the agency 
of the emperor of the French. Italy, 
though more than half-inclined to stand 
out for the cession by Austria of the 
Trentino, as well as Venetia, reluctantly 
agreed to the armistice, August 12th. 

A brief campaign sufficed for the de- 
feat of the minor states of Germany 
that had joined Austria — viz., Bavaria, 
Wurtemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darm- 



166 



THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 



stadt ; and after peace had at last been 
arranged, some of them were forced to 
submit to a certain loss of territory. 
Saxony only escaped incorporation with 
Prussia through the resolute opposition 
of Austria supported by France : but 
the little kingdom, like all the other 
states that had taken arms against Prus- 



burg ; and the other states north of the 
Main were united with Prussia in a con- 
federacy of a more intimate nature than 
before existed, called the North German 
Confederation. 

Austria, by the treaty of Prague, 
August 20, 1866, was completely ex- 
cluded from participation in the new 







^ %/«? ^^ K \ ux (r 



t < 






I 



I 1 1 







BATTLE OF KONIGGRATZ, OR SADOWA. 



sia, was forced to pay a heavy war in- 
demnity. Even the little principality 
of Reuss had to pay 100,000 thalers into 
the fund for Prussian invalids. 

The states north of the Main which 
had taken up arms against Prussia were 
completely incorporated — viz., Hanover, 
Hesse- C^assel, Nassau, Frankfort and a 
small portion of Hesse-Darmstadt, as 
veil as Sleswick-Holstein and lyauen- 



organization of the German states, and 
formally agreed to the surrender of 
Venetia to Italy, to the incorporation 
of Sleswick-Holstein with Prussia, and 
to the new arrangements made by Prus- 
sia in Germany. A portion of the fifth 
article of this treaty secured that, if the 
"inhabitants of the northern districts 
of Sleswick declare, by a free vote, their 
desire to be united to Denmark, they 



THE NEW GEEMAN EMPIRE. 



16? 



(shall be restored accordingly;" but 
this was withdrawn in 1878 by secret 
treaty between Austria and Germany. 
Though losing no territory to Prussia, 
Austria had to pay forty millions of 
thalers for the expenses of the war. 

The North German Confederation, as 
thus constituted, possessed a common 
parliament, elected by universal suff- 
rage, in which each state was represented 
according to its population. The first 
or constituent parliament met early in 
1867, and adopted, with a few modifica- 
tions, the constitution proposed by 
Count Bismarck. The new elections 
then took place, and the first regular 
North German parliament met in Sep- 
tember, 1867. 

Union of German States. 

According to this constitution, there 
was to be a common army and fleet, 
under the sole command of Prussia ; 
a common ' diplomatic representation 
abroad, of necessity little else than Prus- 
sian ; and to Prussia also was entrusted 
the management of the posts and tele- 
graphs in the Confederation. 

The southern German states which 
up to this point had not joined the Bund 
were Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg, 
Hesse-Darmstadt and Liechtenstein, 
with a joint area of 43,990 square miles, 
and a total population of 8,524,460. 
But, though these states were not form- 
ally members of the Bund, they were 
so practically, for they were bound to 
Prussia by treaties of alliance offensive 
and defensive, so that in the event of a 
war the king of Prussia would have at 
his disposal an armed force of upwards 
of 1, 100,000 men. 

During the next few years the North 
Crernian Confederatiou was employed in 



consolidating and strengthening itself, 
and in trying to induce the southern 
states to join the league. The commer- 
cial union was remodeled and extended, 
until by the year 1868 every part of 
Germany was a member of it, with the 
exception of the cities of Hamburg and 
Bremen, and a small part of Baden. 
This paved the way for the formal en- 
trance of the southern states into the 
confederation ; but they still hung back, 
though the ideal of a united Germany 
was gradually growing in force and 
favor. 

Impending War. 

In the spring of 1 867 a war between 
Prussia and France seemed imminent, 
from difficulties arising out of the occu- 
pation of Luxemburg by the former ; 
but by the good offices of the British 
government a congress of the great 
powers, Italy included, was assembled 
in London, at which an arrangement 
satisfactory to both nations was amica- 
bly agreed upon, Luxemburg remaining 
in the possession of the king of Hol- 
land. It was evident, however, that 
hostilities had only been postponed, and 
on both sides extensive military prepa- 
rations were carried on. 

In 1870 the long-threatened war be- 
tween Prussia and France broke out. 
On July 4th of that year the provisional 
government of Spain elected Prince 
Leopold of Hohenzollern, a relative of 
King William of Prussia, to fill their 
vacant throne. This step gave the 
greatest umbrage to the French govern- 
ment ; and though, by the advice of 
William I. of Prussia, Prince Leopold 
resigned his candidature, it was not sat- 
isfied, but demanded an assurance that 
Prussia would at no future period sanc- 
tion his claims. 



16S 



THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 



This assurance the king refused to 
give; and on the 19th of July the em- 
peror of the French proclaimed war 
against Prussia. Contrary to the expec- 
tation of France, the southern German 
states at once decided to support Prus- 
sia and the northern states, and placed 
their armies, which were eventually 



Germans were splendidly organized, and 
much superior in number. The result 
was that the French, instead of march- 
ing to Berlin as they anticipated, never 
crossed the Rhine, and had to fight at a 
disadvantage in Alsace and Lorraine. 

On August 2d the French obtained 
some triflin<^ success at Saarbruck, but 




THE BATTLE OF 
commanded by the Crown-prince of 
Prussia, at the disposal of King Wil- 
liam. 

By the end of July the forces of both 
countries were congregated on the fron- 
tier Napoleon, however, lost a fort- 
night in delays after the -leclaration of 
war, and it was discovered that the 
French army was by no means in a state 
of satisfactory preparation, while the 



GRAVELOTTE. 

the rapidly following battles of Weis- 
senburg, August 4th, Worth and Spic- 
heren, both August 6tli, were important 
German victories. The German ad- 
vance was hardly checked for a moment, 
though the losses on both sides were 
very heavy. The battle of Gravelotte, 
in which King William commanded in 
person, was fought on the i8tli ; and 
though the Germans suffered immense 



THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 



161 



loss, they were again victorious, and 
forced Bazaine to shut himself up in 
Metz. 

The Emperor Napoleon and Marshal 
MacMahon in vain attempted to proceed 
to the relief of Bazaine. They were 
surrounded at Sedan, and completely 
defeated with heavy loss. The emperor 
suriendered on the 2d of September, 
. with his whole army, about 90,000 men, 
and was sent as a prisoner into Ger- 
many. By the 19th of September the 
Prussians had reached Paris, and com- 
menced a vigorous siege. Strasburg 
capitulated on the 27th after a severe 
bombardment ; and on October 28th 
Bazaine surrendered Metz with an army 
of 6000 officers and 173,000 men, 400 
pieces of artillery, 100 mitrailleuses and 
53 eagles. Verdun capitulated on the 
8th of November ; Thionville followed 
on the 24th ; after which there were 
several capitulations of lesser import- 
ance. 

Succession of Defeats. 

The French made extraordinary ef- 
ibrts to raise armies and relieve Paris, 
but with the exception of a momentary 
gleam of success on the Ivoire, they met 
with nothing but severe defeats. Of 
these may be mentioned the battle of 
December 3d in the Forest of Orleans, 
and that of Le Mans, January 12th, in 
which contests Prince Frederick-Charles 
look altogether 30,000 prisoners. 

After numerous unsuccessful sorties, 
and enduring great sufferings from fam- 
ine, Paris surrendered on the 29th of 
[anuary, and the war was virtually at 
an end. The French army of the East, 
80,000 strong, under Bourbaki, was 
compelled to retire to Switzerland on 
the 3 1 St. By the peace of Fratjkfort, 



May 10, 1 87 1, France was condemned 
to pay a heavy war indemnity, and the 
province of Alsace, along with the 
German part of Lorraine, was ceded to 
Germany. 

A very important result of the wal 
was to complete the fusion of the nortili- 
ern and southern states of Germany. 
The southern states joined at once in 
the war against France ; in November 
of 1870, Baden and Hesse leading the 
way, they all became members of the 
German Confederation; and next month 
the re-establishment of the German em- 
pire was almost unanimously resolved, 
with the king of Prussia as hereditary 
emperor. It was at Versailles, on the 
1 8th of January, 1871, that the king was 
proclaimed emperor of Germany. 

Empire of Prussia. 

The new German empire set vigor- 
ously to work to organize itself as a 
united federation, under the skillful 
leadership of Prince Bismarck, who was 
appointed Reichskanzler or Imperial 
Chancellor. Almost at once it found 
itself involved in the ecclesiastical con- 
test with the Church of Rome, known 
as the " Kulturkampf," which had pre- 
viously begun in Prussia. The origin 
of the struggle was an effort to vindi- 
cate the right of the state to interfere, 
somewhat intimately, with the behavior, 
appointments, and even educational 
affairs of all religious societies in the 
country. 

The Jesuits were expelled in 1872, 
and Pope Pius IX. retorted by declining 
to receive the German ambassador. The 
famous Falk or May Laws were passed 
in Prussia in 1873-4-5, and some of 
their provisions were extended to the 
empire. Several German prelates, re- 



170 



THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 



fusing obedience, were expelled from 
Germany ; and the disorganization in 
ecclesiastical affairs became so serious 
that the Reichstag passed a law in 1874 
making marriage a civil rite. The 
Pope issued an encyclical declaring the 
Falk laws invalid, and matters seemed 
for a time to be at a deadlock. 

Prussia and the Papacy. 

On the election of a new pope, Leo 
XIII. , in 1878, attempts were made to 
arrange a compromise between the em- 
pire and the papal see. Falk, the Prus- 
sian " Kultus "-minister, resigned in 
1879, and certain modifications were 
made in the obnoxious laws in 1881 and 
1883. Bismarck took a further step to- 
wards Canossa in 1885, when he pro- 
posed the pope as arbiter between Ger- 
many and Spain in the dispute as to 
the possession of the Caroline Islands ; 
and he practically owned himself beaten 
in the concession which he granted in 
revisions of the politico-ecclesiastical 
legislation in 1886 and 1887. Another 
semi-religious difiiculty which deman- 
ded government interference was the 
social persecution of the Jews, which 
reached a climax in 1880-81. 

In more strictly political affairs the 
rapid spread of socialism excited the 
alarm of the government. Two at- 
tempts on the life of the emperor, in 
May and June, 1878, were attributed 
more or less directly to the Social Demo- 
crat organization, and gave the signal 
for legislative measures, conferring very 
extensive powers upon the administra- 
tion to be used in suppressing the influ- 
ence of socialism. These socialist laws., 
though limited in duration, have in- 
variably been renewed (sometimes with 
added stringency) before their validity 



expired ; in 1889 several of the most 
important towns of the empire were in 
what is called "the minor state of siege" 
for police purposes, and a new per- 
manent socialist law was proposed by 
the government in October of that year. 
A plot, happily futile, to blow up the 
emperor and other German rulers at the 
inauguration of the National Monument 
in the Niederwald in 1883 was consid- 
ered by the government to justify its 
repressive measures. Prince Bismarck, 
however, was not content with repressive 
measures ; he endeavored by improving 
the condition of the working-classes to 
cut tlie ground from beneath the feet of 
the socialistic propagandists. 

Laws for the Working-Olasses. 

The acknowledgment in the empe- 
ror's message to the Reichstag, in 1881, 
that the working- classes have a right to 
be considered by the state, was followed 
by laws compelling employers to insr: - 
their workmen in case of sickness and 
of accident, and by the introduction, 
1 888, of compulsory insurance for work- 
men against death and old age — meas- 
ures that have been by some cal^^d 
"state-socialism." 

The energetic commercial policy of 
government also, which since 1879 has 
been strongly protectionist, had its 
springs in similar considerations; and 
the colonial policy, which began in 
1884 with the acquisition of Angra Pe- 
quena, may be considered to be stimu- 
lated partly by the desire to gratify the 
national self-respect, and partly to pro- 
vide new outlets under the German flag 
for the surplus population, and new 
markets for the home manufactures. 

None of the German colonies as yet. 
however, either in Africa or the Pacjfic 



THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 



171 



Ocean, have proved of any great com- 
mercial value. The assembling of the 
Congo Congress at Berlin, in 1885, fitly 
marked Germany's admission to the list 
of colonial powers. On the mainten- 
ance and improvement of the army and 
navy the German government has be- 
stowed the most unremitting care, urged 
especially by the attitude of the "Re- 
vanche" party in France, though hith- 
erto the imperial policy has been en- 
tirely pacific. 

The National Army. 

Considerable parliamentary friction 
has been caused more than once by tne 
unwillingness of the Reichstag to vote 
military supplies to the amount and in 
the manner demanded. The national 
parliament seeks to exercise a constitu- 
tional control over the army. A com- 
promise was effected in 1874, in virtue 
of which the military strength was fixed 
and the supplies granted for periods of 
seven years at a time. In 1886 the gov- 
ernment proposed to terminate the cur- 
rent Septennate in 1887 instead of 1888, 
and to immediately add largely to the 
peace strength of the army. 

On the rejection of the bill the Reich- 
stag was dissolved January, 1887, by the 
emperor, and an appeal made to the 
country. The Iron Chancellor, Bis- 
marck, still possessed the confidence 
and the gratitude of the people, and the 
new elections in February, 1887, re- 
sulted in a crushing defeat for the op- 
ponents of the government, notably the 
Freisinnige and the Social Democrats. 
One of the most remarkable features of 
thi? election was a letter written by the 
Pope in favor of the army bill, for which 
he subsequently received a quid pro quo 
in a further modification of the May 



laws. The Military Septennate Bill was 
immediately passed, and was followed 
in 1888 by a Military Organization Bill 
which made several changes in the con- 
ditions of service in the landwehr. The 
subsequent budgets showed au <inorm- 
ous increase in the extraordinary mili- 
tary expenditure. While thus seeking 
peace by preparing for war, Germany 
had not failed to use diplomacy for the 
same end. 

A personal meeting of the emperors 
of Germany, Austria and Russia, in 
1872, was considered a proof of apo- 
litical alliance, and, when Russia drifted 
somewhat apart from Germany in 1878, 
an offensive and defensive alliance was 
formed between Austria and Germany in 
1 879. Italy afterwards entered this Triple 
Alliance. Germany's influence on the 
Eastern Question was recognized in 
1878, when the plenipotentiaries of the 
powers met at the Congress of Berlin. 

A New Emperor. 

On the 9th of March, 1 888, the Emperor 
William I. died. His son Frederick, at 
that time suffering from a cancerous 
affection of the throat, immediately 
issued a proclamation, in which he 
promised to consider ' ' new and un- 
questionable national needs," and it 
was understood, and to some extent felt 
that a more liberal era had commenced. 
The new emperor, however, died on 
June 15 th, and William II., his son, who 
succeeded, at once recurred to the pol- 
icy of William I. and Prince Bismarck. 
Much painful excitement was caused by 
a medical dispute as to the nature and 
cause of the late emperor's fatal illness, 
which speedily developed into a party 
question, discussed on both sides with 
virulent acrimony. The latter part of 



172 



THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. 



1888 and the year 1889, were devoted by 
the young emperor to visiting the courts 
of several of his fellow-sovereigns in 
Europe. Germany continued to extend 
her colonial empire, not, however, with- 
out coming to blows with the natives ; 
and in Samoa became temporarily in- 
volved in hostilities with one of the 
chiefs. Difficulties on the east coast of 
Africa led in 1888 to a blockade by the 
British and German fleets to prevent 
the importation of arms and to check 
the slave-trade. This lasted until Oc- 
tober, 1889. 

Prince Bismarck and his sons, Her- 
bert and William, resigned their posi- 
tions under the government, March 1 7, 
1890, and two days later. Von Caprivi 
was appointed as Bismarck's successor. 
Early in July, 1891, Emperor William 
visited London, received the "freedom 
of the city," and was given an enthu- 
siastic reception, which was intended 
to strengthen the bonds of peace and 
good-will already existing between Ger- 
many and England. 

Prince Bismarck died on the 30th of 



July, 1898. For nearly half a cfencttr> 
his name was associated with German 
statesmanship, and to him, more than 
to all the other statesmen combined, 
was due the unity of the German Em- 
pire. He was the leading spirit in 
all the latest events affecting the nation, 
and was one of the gieat commanding 
figures in European diplomacy, A man 
of giant intellect, wide and varied at- 
tainments and indomitable will, he was 
possessed of all the elements for suc- 
cessful leadership, and the impress of 
his strong hand remains upon the Ger- 
man Empire. 

Difficulties having arisen in 1899 
with England and the United States 
respecting the Samoan Islands in the 
South Pacific, commissioners were ap- 
pointed by the three powers to investi- 
gate the rights of each, and present a 
report for the purpose of obtaining a 
basis for a permanent settlement of the 
claims of the respective powers. It was 
understood that a proposition to parti- 
tion the islands was the one most likely 
to be adopted. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Great Events in the History of Russia. 



^CONSIDERING the repeated at- 
f V^ tempts on the lives of Russian 
^^9 ^ emperors in the latter part of 
the nineteenth century, it is 
worthy of note that its beginning was 
marked by a royal assassination. The 
Emperor Paul was nnirdered March 24, 
1 80 1, and was succeeded by his eldest 
son, Alexander I. One of the first acts 
of the new emperor was to make peace 
with England and France. He, how- 
ever, soon changed his policy, and in 
1S05 joined the third coalition against 
France, to which Austria and England 
were parties. Events which belong to 
general European history, and are well 
known, need only to be described briefly 
here. 

On December 2nd of that year took 
placethe battle of Austerlitz, in which 
the Russians lost more than 20,000 men 
and many guns and flags. They accused 
their Austrian allies of treachery. The 
war was soon ended by the treaty of 
Pressburg. 

Then occurred the fourth coalition 
against France. In 1807 Napoleon en- 
gaged the Russian general Benningsen 
at Eylau. The battle was protracted 
and sanguinary, but not decisive. Both 
parties abandoned the field and retired 
into winter quarters. Next followed 
the memorable peace of Tilsit. By 
this treaty the Prussian king, Fred- 
'^rick William III., lost half his domin- 
Nearly all his Polish possessions 



ions. 



were to go to the King of Saxony under 
the name of the Grand Duchy of War- 
saw. 
By a secret treaty, it seemed as if 



Alexander and Napoleon almost aspired 
to divide the world, or at least Europe, 
between them. The terms, howevei; 
were received by a large party in Rus 
sia with disgust. The next important 
event in the reign of Alexander was the 
conquest of Finland. By a treaty in 
September, 1809, Sweden surrendered 
Finland, v/ith the whole of East Both- 
nia, and a part of West Bothnia, lying 
eastward of the river Tornea. The Fins 
were allowed a kind of autonomy which 
they have preserved to this day. 

The annexation of Georgia to Russia 
was consolidated at the beginning ot 
this reign, having been long in prepar- 
ation. It led to a war with Persia, 
which resulted in the incorporation of 
the Province of Shirvan witl) the Rus- 
sian empire in 1806. 

The Coming Struggle. 

In 1809 commenced the fifth coalition 
against Napoleon. Alexander^ who was 
obliged by treaty to furnish assistance 
to the French emperor, did all that he 
could to prevent the war. A quarrel 
with Turkey led to its invasion by a 
Russian army. This war was termi- 
nated in 1 8 12. Russia gave up Molda- 
via and Wallachia, which she had occu- 
pied, but kept Bessarabia, with the 
fortress of Khotin and Bender. 

Gradually an estrangement took place 
between Alexander and Napoleon, not 
only on account of the creation of the 
Grand Duchy of Warsaw, but because 
Russia was suffering greatly from the 
Continental blockade, to which Alex- 
ander had been forced to s'ive his adhe- 

17.3 



174 



GREAT EVENTS IN RUSSIA. 



sion. This led to the great invasion 
of Russia by Napoleon in 1 8 12. 

On May 9, 1812, Napoleon left Paris 
for Dresden, and the Russian and French 



the Niemen and advanced by forced 
marches to Smolensk. Here he db 
feated the Russians, and again at the 
terrible battle of Borodino, and then 




THE RUSSIAN 



Ambassadors received their passports. 
The grand army comprised 678,000 
men, 356,000 of them being French; 
and. to oppose them, the Russians as- 
sembled 372,000 men. Napoleon crossed 



""U^nr.R FULL SAIL, 
entered IMoscow, which had been aban 
doned by most of the inhabitants ; soor. 
afterwards a fire broke out (probably 
caused by the order of Rostopchin, the 
governor), which raged six days and 



GRHAT EVENTS IN RUSSIA. 



ivn 



which destrojed the greater part of the 
city. 

Notwithstanding this disaster, Napo- 
leon lingered five weeks among the 
ruins, endeavoring to negotiate a peace, 
which he seemed to think Alexander 
would be sure to grant ; but he had 
mistaken the spirit of the Emperor and 
his people. On the i8th of October 
Napoleon reluctantly commenced his 
backward march. The weather was 
unusually severe, and the country all 
round had been devastated by the 
French on their march. With their 
ranks continually thinned by cold, 
hunger, and the skirmishes of the Cos- 
sacks who hung upon their rear, the 
French reached the Beresina, which 
they crossed near Studianka on the 
26th-29th of November with great loss. 
The struggle on the banks of this 
river forms one of the most terrible 
pictures in history. At Smorgoni, be- 
tween Vilna and Minsk, Napoleon left 
the army and hurried to Paris. Finally 
the wreck of the grand armee under 
Ney crossed the Niemen. Not more 
than 80,000 of the whole army are said 
o have returned. 

A Powerful Alliance. 

Frederick William III. of Prussia 
now issued a manifesto, and concluded 
an alliance with Russia for the re- 
establishment of the Prussian mon- 
archy. In 18 1 3 took place the battle 
of Dresden, and the so-called Battle of 
the Nations at Leipsic on October t6 
and the two following days. In 18 14 
the Russians invaded France with the 
allies, and lost many men in the as- 
sault upon Paris. After the battle of 
Waterloo, and the conveyance of Napo- 
leon to the island of St. Helena, it fell 



to the Russian forces to occupy Chain 
pagne and Lorraine. 

In the same year Poland was rt- 
established in a mutilated form, with a 
constitution which Alexander, who was 
crowned king, swore to observe. In 
1825 the emperor died suddenly at 
Taganrog at the mouth of the Don, 
while visiting the southern provinces 
of his empire. He had added to the 
Russian dominions Finland, Poland, 
Bessarabia, and that part of the Cau- 
casus which includes Daghestan, Shir- 
van, Mingrelia, and Imeretia. Much 
was done in this reign to improve the 
condition of the serfs. The Raskolniks 
were better treated ; many efforts were 
made to improve public education, and 
the universities of Kazan, Kharkoff, 
and St. Petersburg were founded. 

Charged with Treason. 

One of the chief agents of these re- 
forms was the minister Speranski, who 
for some time enjoyed the favor of the 
emperor, but he attacked so many in- 
terests by his measures that a coalition 
was formed against him. He was de- 
nounced as a traitor, and his enemies 
succeeded in getting him removed and 
sent as governor to Nijni-Novgorod. 
In 1 8 19, when the storm raised against 
him had somewhat abated, he was ap- 
pointed to the important post of gov- 
ernor of Siberia. In 1821 he returned 
to St. Petersburg, but he never regained 
his former power. 

To the mild influence of Speranski 
^succeeded that of ShishkojEf, Novosilt- 
zeflf, and Arakcheeflf The last of these 
men made himself universally detested 
in Russia. He rose to great influence 
in the time of Paul, and nianaged to 
continue in favor under his son. Be- 



176 



GREAT EVENTS IN RUSSIA. 



sides many other pernicious measures, 
it was to him that Russia owed the 
military colonies which were so un- 
popular and led to serious riots. The 
censorship of the press became nnich 
stricter, and many professors of liberal 
tendencies were dismissed from their 
chairs in the universities. 

The country was now filled with 
secret societies, and the emperer be- 
came gloomy and suspicious. In this 
condition of mind he died, a man 
thoroughly disenchanted and weary of 
life. He has been judged harshly by 
some authors ; readers will remember 
that Napoleon said of him that he was 
false as a Byzantine Greek. To us he 
appears as a well-intentioned man, ut- 
terly unable to cope with the discord- 
ant elements around him. He had 
discovered that his life was a failure. 

A New Conspiracy. 

The heir to the throne according to 
the principles of succession recognized 
in Russia was Constantine, the second 
son of the emperor Paul, since Alexan- 
der left no children. But he had of his 
own free will secretly renounced his 
claim in 1822, having espoused a 
Roman Catholic, the Polish princess 
Julia Grudzinska. In consequence of 
this change in the sovereign's authority, 
the conspiracy of the Dekabists broke 
out at the end of the year, their object 
being to take advantage of the con- 
fusion caused by the alteration of the 
succession to get constitutional govern- 
ment in Russia. Their efforts failed, 
but the rebellion was not put down 
without great bloodshed. 

Five of the conspirators were exe- 
cuted, and a great many sent to Siberia. 
Some of ^-iie men implicated were 



among the most remarkable of theit 
time in Russia, but the whole country 
had been long I'.oneycombed with secret 
societies, and many of the Russian 
officers had learned liberal ideas while 
engaged in the campaign against Napo- 
leon. So ignorant, however, were the 
common people of the most ordinary 
political terms that when told to shout 
for Constantine and the constitution 
they naively asked if the latter was 
Constantine' s wife. 

Victorious Over Persia. 

The new emperor, Nicholas, the next 
brother in succession, showed through- 
out his reign reactionary tendencies ; 
all liberalism was sternly repressed. In 
1830 appeared the "Complete Collec- 
tion of the Laws of the Russian Em- 
pire," which Nicholas had caused to be 
codified. He partly restored the right 
of primogeniture which had been taken 
away by the empress Anna as contrary 
to Russian usages, allowing a father to 
make his eldest son his sole heir. In 
spite of the increased severity of the 
censorship of the press, literature made 
great progress in his reign. From 1826 
to 1828 Nicholas was engaged in a war 
with Persia, in which the Russians 
were completely victorious, having 
beaten the enemy at Elizabetpol, and 
again under Paskewitch at Javan Bulak. 
The war was terminated by the peace 
of Turkmantchai, February 22, 1828, 
by which Persia ceded to Russia the 
provinces of Erivan and Nakhitchevan. 
and paid twenty millions of roubles aL> 
an indemnity. 

The next foreign enemy was Turkey. 
Nicholas had sympathized with the 
Greeks in their struggle for independ- 
ence, in oppositiop to the policy oi 



GREAT EVENTS IN RUSSIA. 



177 



Alexander ; he had also a part to play 
as protector of the Orthodox Christians, 
who ' formed a large number of the 
sultan's subjects. In consequence of 
the sanguinary war which the Turks 
were carrying on against the Greeks 
and the utter collapse of the latter, 
Kngland, France, and Russia signed 
tha treaty of London in 1827, by which 
they forced themselves upon the bel- 
ligerents as mediators. 

Turkish Fleet Destroyed. 

From this union resulted the battle 
of Navarino, October 20, 1827, in which 
the Turkish fleet was annihilated by 
that of the allies. Nicholas now pur- 
sued the war with Turkey on his own 
account ; in Asia Paskewitch defeated 
two Turkish armies, and conquered 
Erzeroum, and in Europe Diebitsch de- 
feated the grand vizier. The Russians 
crossed the Balkans and advanced to 
Adrianople, where a treaty was signed 
in 1829 very disadvantageous to Tur- 
key. 

In 1 83 1 broke out the Polish insur- 
rection. Paskewitch took Warsaw in 
1 83 1. The cholera which was then 
raging had already carried off Diebitsch 
and the Grand Duke Constantine. Po- 
land was now entirely at the mercy of 
Nicholas. The constitution which had 
been granted by Alexander was an- 
i:i ailed; there were to be no more diets; 
and for th^; ancient palatinates, familiar 
to the historical student, were substi- 
tuted the governments of Warsaw, 
Radom, Lublin, Plock, and Modlin. 
The university of Vilna, rendered cele- 
brated by Mickiewicz and Lelewel, was 
suppressed. 

By another treaty with Turkey, that 
of Unkiar-Skelessi, 1833, Russia ac- 
12 



quired additional rights to meddle with 
the internal politics of that country. 
Soon after the revolution of 1848, the 
Emperor Nicholas, who became even 
more reactionary in consequence of the 
disturbed state of Europe, answered the 
appeal of the Emperor Francis Joseph, 
and sent an army under Paskewitch to 
suppress the Hungarian revolt. After 
the capitulation of Gorgei in 1849, the 
war was at an end, and the Magyars 
cruelly expiated their attempts to pro- 
cure constitutional government. 

In 1853 broke out the Crimean War. 
The emperor was anxious to distribute 
the possessions of the " sick man," but 
found enemies instead of allies in Eng- 
land and France. The chief events of 
this memorable struggle were the bat- 
tles of the Alma, Balaklava, Inker- 
mann, and Tchernaya, and the siege of 
Sebastopol; this had been skillfully fcr- 
tified by Todleben, who appears to have 
been the only man of genius who came 
to the front on either side during the 
war. In 1855 the Russians destroyed 
the southern side of the city, and re- 
treated to the northern. 

The War Ended. 

In the same year, on March 14th, died 
the emperor Nicholas, after a short ill- 
ness. Finding all his plans frustrated 
he had grown weary of life, and rashly 
exposed himself to the severe tempera- 
ture of the northern spring. He was 
succeeded by his son Alexander II., 
1 85 5- 1 88 1, at the age of thirty-seven. 
One of the first objects of the new czai 
was to put an end to the war, and the 
treaty of Paris was signed in 1856, by 
which Russia consented to keep no 
vessels of war in the Black Sea, and to 
give up her protectorate of the Eastern 



I?8 



GK£.Ai JiViiiNi^ iXN isUoalA. 



Christians; the former, it must be 
added, she has afterward recovered. 

A portion of Russian Bessarabia was 
also cut off and added to the Danubian 
princii)alities, which were shortly to be 
united under the name of Roumania. 
This was afterwards given back to 
Russia by the treaty of Berlin. Sebas- 



out by his son. The landlords, on re- 
ceiving an indemnity, now released tlic 
serfs from their seigniorial rights, and 
the village commune became the actual 
property of the serf. This great revo- 
lution was not, however, carried out 
without great difficulty. 

The Polish insurrection of 1 863 was 




SEBASTOPOL DURING 

topol also has been rebuilt, so that it is 
difficult to see what the practical re- 
sults of the Crimean War were, in spite 
of the vast bloodshed and expenditure 
of treasure which attended it. 

The next important measure was the 
emancipation of the serfs in 1861. This 
great reform had long been meditated 
by Nicholas, but he was unable to ac- » 
complish it, and left it to be earned I 



THE BOMBARDMENT. 



a great misfortune to that part of Poland 
which had been incorporated with Rus- 
sia. On the other hand Finland had 
seen her privileges confirmed. 

Among important foreign events of 
this reign must be mentioned the cap- 
ture of Schamyl in 1859 by Prince 
Bariatinski, and the pacification of the 
Caucasus ; many of the Circassians, un- 
able to endure the peaceful life of cul- 



GREAT EVENTS IN RUSSIA. 



179 



tivators ui tlic soil under the new 
regime, migrated to Turkey, where 
they hcwc formed one of the most 
turbulent elements of the population. 
Turkestan also has been gradually sub- 
jugated. In 1865 the city of Tashkend 
was taken, and in 1867 Alexander II. 
created the government of Turkestan. 
In 1858 General Muravieif signed a 
treaty with the Chinese, by which 
Russia acquired all the left bank of the 
river Amur. A new port has been 
created in Eastern Asia (Vladivostok), 
which promises to be a great centre of 
trade. 

A Terrible Siege. 

In 1 877 Russia came to the assistance 
of the Slavonic Christians against the 
Turks. After the terrible siege of 
Plevna, nothing stood between them 
and the gates of Constantinople. In 
1878 the treaty of San Stefano was 
signed, by which Roumania became 
independent, Servia was enlarged, and 
a free Bulgaria, but under Turkish 
suzerainty, was created. But these 
arrangements were subsequently modi- 
fied by the treaty of Berlin. Russia 
got back the portion of Bessarabia 
which she had lost, and advanced her 
Caucasian frontier. 

The new province of Bulgaria was 
cut into two, the southern portion being 
entitled Eastern Roumelia, with a 
Christian governor, to be appointed by 
the Porte, and self-government. Austria 
"acquired a protectorate over Bosnia and 
Herzegovina. The latter part of the 
reign of Alexander II. was a period of 
great internal commotion, on account 
of the spread of Nihilism, and the at- 
tempts upon the emperor's life, which 
unfortunately were at last successf'il. 



In the cities in which his despotic 
father had walked about fearless, with- 
out a single attendant, the mild and 
amiable Alexander was in daily peril of 
his li/e. 

On April 16, 1866, Karakozofif shot 
at the emperor in St. Petersburg ; in 
the following year another attempt was 
made by a Pole, Berezowski, while 
Alexander was at Paris on a visit to 
Napoleon III. ; on April 14, 1879, Solo- 
vioff shot at him. The same year saw 
the attempt to blow up the Winter 
Palace and to wreck the train by which 
the czar was traveling from Moscow tc 
St. Petersburg. A similar conspiracy 
in 1 88 1, March 13, was successful. Five 
of the conspirators, including a womai., 
Sophia Perovskaia, were publicly exe- 
cuted. 

Plots and Murders 

Thus terminated the reign of Alex- 
der II., which had lasted nearly twenty- 
six years. He died leaving Russia 
exhausted by foreign wars and honey- 
combed by plots. His wife and eldest 
son Nicholas had died before him, th 
latter at Nice. He was succeeded b 
his second son Alexander, born in 1845, 
whose reign has been characterized by 
conspiracies and constant deportations 
of suspected persons. It was long be- 
fore he ventured to be crowned in his 
ancient capital of Moscow, in 1883, and 
the chief event since then has been the 
disturbed relations with England, which 
for a time threatened war. 

An incident of peaceful significance 
was the visit of the emperor of Ger- 
many to the czar at Peterhof, July 19- 
23, 1888. On the 27th of the same 
month the ninth centenary of the in- 
troduction of Christianity was cele 



180 



GREAT EVENTS IN RUSSIA. 



brated at Kiefif. The government being 
embarrassed on account of the low state 
of its treasury, signed an agreement for 
a loan of $100,000,000 in November of 
this year ; the loan was immediately 
taken, chiefly by French capitalists. 
Shortly afterward a loan of 700,000,000 
francs was concluded with the Roths- 
childs and other bankers. 

The autumn of 1891 was a period of 
great distress throughout a considerable 
part of Russia on account of the failure 
of the harvests. In some localities the 
entire population were reduced to the 
verge of starvation, and many persons 
actually perished from hunger. Meas- 
ures of relief were organized by the 
government, and large importations of 
grain from the United States mitigated 
in some degree the severity of the 
calamity. 

Very unfavorable comment by other 
nations was made upon the action of 
the Russian government, resulting in 
oppressive measures against the Jews. 
The effect of this proscription was 
severely felt, and was the cause of great 
hardship and suffering. Those of the 
Jewish population who were able to 
emigrate sought refuge elsewhere. 

The year 1899 was characterized by 
an important conference in Holland of 
commissioners appointed by the great 



powers of Europe and by the United 
States, for the purpose of acting upon 
a proposition by the Czar of Russia for 
disarming the nations and ending wai. 
Great interest attended the Emperor's 
efforts to secure perpetual peace, and it 
was generally conceded that an import- 
ant step had been taken in that direction. 

The deliberations of the conference 
were long and earnest, and one of the 
results was the formulation of articles 
of arbitration which pointed out the 
methods of procedure between the na- 
tions in the settlement of disputes. It 
was considered a sarcastic commentary 
upon this well-meant attempt to abolish 
war that the struggle between the Eng- 
lish and the South African Republic? 
should have followed so quickly. It wa;^ 
evident that the time was not yet ripi 
for fully inaugurating the principle Oi 
arbitration. 

A moral result, however, was gained 
by the great nations assembling in con- 
vention to discuss the question of dis- 
armament and to promote a general 
peace. This is the highest point gained 
in the efforts ox the world's philanthro- 
pists, statesmen and rulers, to disband 
their armies and silence the thunder-roar 
of war. So much at least was gained, 
and perhaps more, that will be manifest 
in the near future. 




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OUEEN VICTORIA LISTENING TO A DISPATCH FROM THE SEAT 
OF WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Nations of Northern Europe — Denmark, Sweden and Norway. 




N account of the mental de- 
rangement of his father, Prince 
Frederick VI. was declared re- 
gent of Denmark in 1784, and 
at the beginning of the century was the 
acting ruler, the sovereign in every 
thing except the name. He soon 
proved his capacity to govern by pass- 
ing several judicious enactments. 

The peasants living on the crown 
lands were gradually emancipated — an 
example followed by a number of the 
nobility on their respective estates. In 
the abolition of the African slave trade 
Denmark had the honor of taking the 
lead among the governments of Europe. 
The crown prince, guided by the 
counsels of Count Bernstorff, long re- 
mained neutral in the political convul- 
sion engendered by the French Revolu- 
tion. He continued to adhere stead- 
fastly to this plan until in 1 801 the 
Emperor Paul of Russia having, as in 
the case of the Armed Neutrality, 
formed a compact of the northern 
powers hostile to England, a British 
fleet was sent into the Baltic under the 
orders of Sir Hyde Parker, with Ivord 
Nelson as his second in command. 

It was this fleet which taught the 
Danes that their capital was not im- 
pregnable, and that the long line of 
men-of-war moored in front of the har- 
bor was an insufficient defence against 
such enterprising opponents. The at- 
tack took place on the 2d of April, 1801 ; 
and the resistance of the Danes was 
spirited, but fruitless. The loss of the 
English in killed and wounded exceeded 
icxx) men, but that of their opponents 



was much greater, and most of their 
shipping was destroyed. Happily little 
injury was done to the capital. A cessa- 
tion of hostilities took place forthwith, 
and was followed by a treaty of peace. 
The death of Paul, which occurred 
soon afterwards, dissolved the compact 
between the northern courts. 

But no treaty of peace could be re- 
garded as permanent during the ascend- 
ancy of Napoleon. After defeating first 
Austria and then Prussia, that extra- 
ordinary man found means to obtain 
the confidence of the Emperor Alexan 
der of Russia, and in the autumn of 
I Be/ threatened to make Denmark take 
part in the war against England. Al- 
though the Danish Government dis- 
covered no intention to violate its 
neutrality, the English Ministers, eager 
to please the public by acting on a sys- 
tem of vigor, despatched to the Bakic 
both a fleet and an army, in order to 
compel the surrender of the Danish 
navy, upon condition of its being re- 
L ored in the event of peace. 

The Fleet Surrenders. 

To such a demand the crown prince 
gave an immediate negative, declaring 
that he was both able and willifig to 
maintain his neutrality, and that his 
fleet could not be given up on any such 
condition. On this the English army 
landed near Copenhagen, laid siege to 
that city, and soon obliged the govern- 
ment to purchase its safef / by surren- 
dering the whole of its na\al force. 

This act, the most questionable ii; 
point of justice of any committed by 

181 



182 



DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



the British Government during the 
war, can hardly be defended on the 
score of policy. The resentment felt 
on the occasion by the Emperor of 
Russia was so great as to deprive Eng- 
land during four arduous years of the 
benefit of his alliance ; and the seizure 
of the Danish fleet so exasperated the 
crown prince and the nation at large, 
that they forthwith declared war against 
England, throwing themselves com- 
pletely into the arms of France. 

The hostilities between England and 
Denmark were carried on by sea, partly 
at the entrance of the Baltic, and partly 
on the coast of Norway. These con- 
sisted of a series of actions between 
single vessels or small detachments, in 
which the Danes fought always with 
spirit, and not infrequently with suc- 
cess. In regard to trade, both nations 
suffered severely — the British merchant- 
nen in th e Baltic being much annoyed 
by Danish cruisers, whilst the foreign 
trade of Denmark was in a manner 
suspended, through the naval superior- 
ity of England. 

Norway Ceded to Sweden. 

The situation of the two countries 
jontinued on the same footing during 
ive years, when at last the overthrow 
of Bonaparte in Russia opened a hope 
of deliverance to those who were in- 
voluntarily his allies. The Danish 
Government would now gladly have 
made peace with England ; but the lat- 
ter, in order to secure the cordial co- 
operation of Russia and Sweden, had 
gone so far as to guarantee to these 
powers the cession of Norway on the 
part of Denmark. 

The Danes, ill prepared for so great 
a sacrifice, continued their connection 



with France during the eventful year 
1813 ; but at the close of that campaign 
a superior force was directed by the 
allied sovereigns against Holstein, and 
the result was. first an armistice, and 
eventually a treaiy of peace in January. 
1 8 14. The terms of the peace were, 
that Denmark should cede Norway tc 
Sweden, and that Sweden, in return 
should give up Pomerania to Denmark. 
But Pomerania, being too distant to 
form a suitable appendage to the Danish 
territory, was exchanged for a sum of 
money and a small district in Lauen- 
burg adjoining Holstein. On the part 
of England, the conquests made from 
Denmark in the East and West Indies 
were restored — all, in short, that had 
been occupied by British troops, ex- 
cepting Heligoland. 

The Monarchy in Danger. 

After the Congress of Vienna, by 
which the extent of the Danish mon- 
archy was considerably reduced, the 
court of Copenhagen was from time to 
time disquieted by a spirit of discontent 
manifesting itself in the duchies, and 
especially in that of Holstein, the out- 
break of which in 1848 threatened the 
monarchy with complete dissolution. 
A short recapitulation of the relation of 
the different parts of the kingdom to 
each other will furnish a key to the 
better comprehension of these internal 
troubles. 

When Christian I. of the house of 
Oldenburg ascended the throne of Den- 
mark in 1448, he was at the same time 
elected Duke of Schleswig and Hol- 
stein, while his younger brother re- 
ceived Oldenburg and Delmenh(5rst. 
In 1544 the older branch was again 
divided into two lines, that of the royal 




183 



184 



DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



house of Denmark, and that of the 
dukes of Holstein-Gottorp. Several 
collateral branches arose afterwards, of 
which those that survived were — the 
Augustenburg and Glucksburg branches 
belong to the royal line, and the ducal 
Holstein-Gottorp branch, the head of 
which was Peter III. of Russia. 

The Danish Possessions. 

In 1762 Peter threatened Denmark 
with a war, the avowed object of which 
was the recovery of Schleswig, which 
had been expressly guaranteed to the 
Danish Crown by England and France 
at the Peace of Stockholm, 1720. His 
sudden dethronement, however, pre- 
vented him from putting this design 
into execution. The Empress Cath- 
arine agreed to an accommodation, 
which was signed at Copenhagen in 
1764, and subsequently confirmed by 
the Emperor Paul, 1773, by which the 
ducal part of Schleswig was ceded to 
the Crown of Denmark. The czar 
abandoned also his part of Holstein in 
exchange for Oldenburg and Delmon- 
horst, which he transferred to the 
younger branch of the Gottorp family. 
According to the scheme of Germanic 
organization adopted by the Congress 
of Vienna, the king of Denmark was 
declared member of the Germanic body 
on account of Holstein and Lauenburg, 
invested with three votes in the Gen- 
eral Assembly, and had a place, the 
tenth in rank, in the ordinary diet. 

After the restoration of peace in 
1815, the States of the Duchy of Hol- 
stein, never so cordially blended with 
Denmark as those of Schleswig, began 
to show their discontent at the con- 
tinued non-convocation of their own 
assemblies despite the assurances of 



Frederick VI. The preparation of a 
new constitution for the whole king- 
dom was the main pretext by which the 
court evaded the claims of the petition- 
ers, who met, however, with no better 
success from the German diet before 
which they brought their complaints in 
1822. 

After the stirring year of 1830, the 
movement in the duchies, soon to de- 
generate into a mutual animosity be- 
tween the Danish and German popula- 
tion, became more general. The scheme 
of the court to meet their demands by 
the establishment of separate delibera- 
tive assemblies for each of the provinces 
failed to satisfy the Holsteiners, who 
contmually urged the revival of their 
long-neglected local laws and privileges. 
Nor were matters changed at the acces- 
sion in 1838 of Christian VIII., a prince 
noted for his popular sympathies and 
liberal principles. 

Wide-Spread Rebellion. 

The feeling of national animosity was 
greatly increased by the issue of certain 
orders for Schleswig, which tended to 
encourage the culture of the Danish 
language to the prejudice of the Ger- 
man. The elements of a revolution 
being thus in readiness waited only for 
some impulse to break forth into ac- 
tion. Christian died in the very begin- 
ning of 1848, before the outbreak of 
the French Revolution in February, 
and left his throne to his son Frederick 
VII., who had scarcely received the 
royal unction when half of his subjects 
rose in rebellion against him. 

In March, 1848, Prince Frederick o^ 
Augustenburg, having gained over the 
garrison of Rendsburg, put himself ai 
the head of a provincial government 



DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



186 



proclaimed at Kiel. A Danish army, 
marching into Schleswig, easily re- 
duced the duchy as far as the banks of 
the Eider; but, in the meantime, the 
new national assembly of Germany 
resolved upon the incorporation of 
Schleswig; and the king of Prussia 
followed up their resolution by sending 
an army into the duchies under the 
command of General Wrangel. 

The Prussian general, after driving 
the Danes from Schleswig, marched 
into Jutland ; but on the 26th of Au- 
gust an armistice was signed at Mal- 
moe, and an agreement come to by 
which the government of the duchies 
was entrusted to a commission of five 
members — two nominated by Prussia, 
two by Denmark, and the fifth by the 
common consent of the four, Denmark 
being also promised an indemnification 
for the requisitions made in Jr^land. 

War Goes On. 

After the expiration of the armistice, 
;he war was renewed with the aid of 
Prussian troops and other troops of the 
confederacy, from March to July, 1849, 
when Prussia signed a second armistice 
for six months. The duchies now con- 
tinued to increase their own troops, be- 
ing determined to carry on the war at 
their own charge without the aid of 
Prussia, whose policy they stigmatized 
as inconsistent and treacherous. The 
chief command of the Schleswig-Hol- 
stein army was intrusted to General 
Willisen, a scientific and able soldier; 
but henceforth the Danes had little to 
fear, especially as the cry of German 
unity brought but an insignificant num- 
ber of volunteers to the camp of the 
Holsteiners. 

The last victory of the Danes, under 



Generals Krogh and Schlepegrell, was 
at the battle of Idsted, July 23rd. Near 
this small village, protected by lakes 
and bogs, Willisen lay encamped with 
his centre, his right wing at Wed- 
elspung, extending along the I,ake 
Langso, his left spreading along the 
Arnholtz lake. The Danes approach 
ing on the high road from Flensburg 
to Schleswig, attacked the enemy on all 
sides; and, after having been repeatedly 
repulsed, they succeeded in driving the 
Schleswig-Holsteiners from all their 
positions. The forces engaged on each 
side were about 30,000; the number of 
killed and wounded on both sides was 
upwards of 7,000. 

Peace with Prussia. 

After the victory of Idsted, the Danes 
could hardly expect to meet with any 
serious resistance, and the confidence o*^ 
the court of Copenhagen was further 
increased by the peace which was con- 
cluded with Prussia, July, 1850, by 
which the latter abandoned the duchies 
to their own fate, and soon afterwards 
aided in their subjection. The sole 
question of importance which now 
awaited its solution was the order of 
succession, which the European powers 
thought to be of such importance as to 
delay its final settlement till 1852. 

The extinction of the male line in 
King Frederick was an event foreseen 
by the king, the people and the foreign 
powers. After protracted negotiations 
between the different courts, the repre- 
sentatives of England, France, Austria, 
Russia, Prussia and Sweden, a treaty 
relative to the succession was signed in 
London, May 8, 1852. According to 
this protocol, in case of default of male 
issue in the direct line of Frederick VI., 



186 



DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



the crown wa? to pass to Prince Chris- 
tian of Ghicksburg, and his wife, the 
Princess Lonisa, of Hesse, who, through 
her mother, Princess Charlotte of Den- 
mark, was the niece of King Christian 
VIII. 

The treaty of London did not fulfill 
the expectations of the signitaries as to 
a settlement of the agitation in the 
duchies. The duke of Augustenburg 
had accepted the pardon held out to him 
on condition that his family resigned all 
claim to the sovereignty. of the duchies, 
but he continued to stir up foreign na- 
tions about his rights, and when he died 
his son Frederick maintained the family 
pretensions. At last, in the autumn of 
1863, Frederick VII. died very suddenly 
at the castle of Glucksburg, in Schles- 
wig, the seat of his appointed successor. 
As soon as the ministry in Copenhagen 
received news of his death. Prince 
Christian of Glucksburg was proclaimed 
king as Christian IX., and the young 
duke of Augustenburg appeared in 
Schleswig, assuming the title of Fred- 
erick VIII 

Demands Upon Denmark. 

The claims of the pretender were 
supported by Prussia, Austria and other 
German states, and before the year was 
out Generals Gablenz and Wrangel oc- 
cupied the duchies in command of Aus- 
trian and Prussian troops. The attitude 
of Germany was in the highest degree 
peremptor}', and Denmark was called 
upon to gi\e up Schleswig-Holstein to 
military occupation by Prussia and Aus- 
tria until the claims of the duke of 
Augustenburg were settled. 

In its dilemma the Danish Govern- 
ment applied to England and to France, 
and receiving from these powers what 



it rightly or wrongly considered as en- 
couragement, it declared war with Ger- 
many in the early part of 1864. The 
Danes sent their general, De Meza, with 
40,000 men to defend the Dannewerk, 
the ancient line of defences stretc!iing 
right across the peninsula frorc the* 
North Sea to the Baltic. The move- 
ments of General De Meza were not 
however, successful ; the Dannewerk, 
popularly supposed to be impregnable 
was first outflanked and tiien stormec^., 
and the Danish army fell back on the 
heights of Dybbol, near Flensborg, 
which was strongly fortified, and took 
up a position behind it, across the Little 
Belt, in the island of Alsen. 

Heroic Courage. 

This defeat caused almost a panic in 
the country, and, finding that England 
and France had no intention of aiding 
them, the Danes Lit the danger of anni- 
hilation close upon them. The courage 
of the little nation, however, was heroic, 
ciud they made a splendid stand against 
their countless opponents. General Ger- 
lach was sent to replace the unlucky De 
Meza ; the heights of Dybbol were 
harder to take than the Germans had 
supposed, but they fell at last, and with 
them the strong position of Sonderburg, 
in the island of Alsen- 

The Germans pushed northwards un- 
til they overran every part of the main- 
land, as far as the extreme north of Jut- 
land. It seemed as though Denmark 
must cease to exist among the nations 
of Europe; but the Danes at last gave 
way, and were content to accept the 
terms of the Peace of Vienna, in Octo- 
ber, 1864, by which Christian IX. re- 
nounced all claim to Lauenbiirg, Hol- 
stein and Schleswig, and agreed to have 



DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



187 



no voice in the final disposal of those 
provinces. 

For the next two years Europe waited 
to see Prussia restore North Sclileswig 
and Alsen, in which Danish is the popu- 
lar language, and which Austria had 
demanded should be restored to Den- 
mark in case the inhabitants should ex- 
press that as their wish by a plebiscite. 
When the war broke out between Aus- 
tria and Prussia in 1866, and resulted 
in the humiliation of Austria, the 
chances of restoration passed away, and 
the duchies have remained an integral 
part of Prussia. Notwithstanding her 
dismemberment, Denmark has pros- 
pered to an astonishing degree, and her 
material fortunes have been constantly 
in the ascendant. 

Denmark has been very fortunate in 
forming marriage alliances with the 
most powerful royal houses of Europe. 



On the loth of March, 1863, Princess 
Alexandra, of Denmark, was marred to 
the Prince of Wales at Windsor. Her 
sister, the Princess Dagmar, was mar- 
ried to Prince Alexander, of Russia, on 
November 9, 1866. 

In the great Franco-Prussian \^ar of 
1870 Denmark remained neutral, and it 
may be said that of late yea.;; she has 
sought to maintain a peace policy with 
other nations. She has, however^ bee:, 
distracted by internal dissensions, hut 
not to such an extent as to threaten her 
constitution or lier unity. 

King Christian's seventieth birthday 
occurred on April 8, 1888, and the 15th 
of November of the same year was the 
twenty fifth anniversary of his accession 
to the throne. Both events were cele- 
brated with great enthusiasm through- 
out the country, and with renewed 
pledges of loyalty to the throne. 



SWEDEN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



/STtTSTAVUS IV. was not luite 
V ^ I fourteen years old when his 
father was murdered, and dur- 
ing his minority the government was 
carried on by his uncle, the duke of 
Sodermanland. Gustavus began to ex- 
ercise royal authority in 1796. His reign 
was remarkable chiefly ^or the obstinacy 
with which he clung to his own ideas, 
no matter how far they might conflict 
with the obvious interests of his coun- 
try. He had a bitter detestation of 
Bonaparte, and in 1803 went to Carls- 
ruhe in the hope that he might induce 
the emperor and some of the German 
princes to act with him in support of 
the Bourbons. 

His enmity led to an open rupture 
with France, and even after the peace 



of Tilsit, when Russia and Prussia of- 
fered to mediate between him and the 
French emperor, he refused to come to 
terms. The consequence was that he 
lost Stralsund and the island of Riigen. 
He displayed so much friendship for 
England that Russia and Denmark, act- 
ing under the influence of France, de- 
clared war against him; and the whole 
of Finland was soon held by Russian 
troops. 

Gustavus attacked Norway, but hi^ 
army was driven back by the Danes and 
Norwegians. He still declined to make 
peace, and he even alienated England 
when she attempted to influence him by 
moderate counsels. The Swedish peo- 
ple were so enraged by the consequences 
of his policy that in 1809 he was de- 



188 



DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



throned, and the claims of his descend- 
ants to the crown were also repudiated. 
He was succeeded by the duke of Soder- 
manland, who reigned as Charles XIII. 
Charles XIII., 1 809-181 8, concluded 
peace with Russia, Denmark and France, 
ceding to Russia by the treaty of Fred- 
erikshamm, 1809, the whole of Finland. 
The loss of this territory, which had 
been so long associated with the Swed- 
ish monarchy, was bitterly deplored by 
the Swedes, but it was universally ad- 
mitted that under the circumstances the 
sacrifice was unavoidable. Charles as- 
sented to important changes in the con- 
stitution^ which were intended to bring 
to an end the struggle between the 
crown and the aristocracy and to pro- 
vide some security for the maintenance 
of popular rights. The king was still 
to be at the head of the executive, but it 
was arranged that legislative functions 
and control over taxation should belong 
to the diet, which was to consist of four 
orders — nobles, clergymen, burghers, 
and peasants. 

Sweden Surprises Europe. 

As Charles XIII. was childless, the diet 
elected as his successor Prince Christian 
Augustus of Holstein-Sonderburg-Au- 
gustenburg. In 18 10, soon after his ar- 
rival in Stockholm, this prince suddenly 
died ; and Sweden astonished Europe by 
asking Marshal Bernadotte to become 
heir to the throne. Bernadotte, who 
took the name of Charles John, was a 
^ man of great vigor and resource, and 
soon made himself the real ruler of 
v'^weden. Napoleon treated Sweden as 
almost a conquered country, and com- 
pelled her to declare war with England. 
Bernadotte, associating himself heartily 
with his adopted land, resolved to secure 



its independence, and entered into an 
alliance with Russia. 

In 1813 he started with an army of 
20,000 Swedes to co-operate with the 
powers which were striving finally to 
crush the French emperor. The pro- 
ceedings of the Swedish crown prince 
were watched with some suspicion bv 
the allies, as he was evidently unwilling 
to strike a decisive blow at France; but 
after the battle of Leipsic he displayed 
much activity. He blockaded Hamburg, 
and by the peace of Kiel, concluded in 
January, 1 8 1 4, he forced Denmark to giv( 
up Norway. He then entered France, 
but soon returned and devoted his ener- 
gies to the conquest of Norway, which 
was very unwilling to be united with 
Sweden. Between the months of July 
and November, 18 14, the country was 
completely subdued, and Charles XIII. 
was proclaimed king. 

The Countries United. 

The union of Sweden and Norway^ 
which has ever since been maintained, 
was recognized by the Congress of Vi- 
enna ; and it was placed on a sound 
basis by the frank adoption of the princi- 
ple that, while the two countries should 
be subject to the same crown and act 
together in matters of common interest 
each should have complete control ove. 
its internal aflfairs. The new relation 
of their country to Norway gave much 
satisfaction to the Swedes, whom it con- 
soled in some measure for the loss of 
Finland. It also made it easy foi them 
to transfer to Prussia in 18 15 what re- 
mained of their Pomeranian territories. 

In 181 8 Bernadotte ascended the 
throne as Charles XIV., and he reigned 
until he died in 1844. Great material 
improvements were effected during his 





THE BALLOON USED IN MODERN WARFARE 



^_^__ 




t)B:NMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



im 



reign. He caused new roads and canals 
to be constructed; he encouraged the 
cultivation of districts which had for- 
merly been barren ; and he founded good 
industrial and naval schools. He was 
not, however, much liked by his sub- 
jects. He never mastered the Swedish 
^.anguage, and he was so jealous of any 
interference with his authority that he 
ternly punished the expression of opin- 
iv^ns which he disliked. 

To the majority of educated Swedes 
the constitution seemed to be ill-adapted 
to the wants of the nation, and there was 
a general demand for a political system 
which should make the Government 
more directly responsible to the people. 
In 1840 a scheme of reform was submit- 
ted to the diet by a committee which 
Jiad been appointed for the purpose, 
but the negotiations and discussions to 
which it gave rise led to no definite 
result. 

King Oscar, 

Charles XIV. was succeeded by his 
son Oscar I., 1844- 18 59. Oscar had al- 
ways expressed sympathy with liberal 
opinions, and it was anticipated that the 
constitutional question would be settled 
during his reign without much diffi- 
. ilty. These expectations were disap- 
pointed. The diet met soon after his 
accession, and was asked to accept the 
scheme which had been drawn up in 
1840. The measure received the cordial 
approval of the burghers and peasants, 
but was rejected by the nobles and the 
clergy. In 1846 a committee was ap- 
pointed to prepare a new set of proposals, 
and late in the following year the dis- 
cussion of its plans began. 

While the debates on the subject were 
proceeding some excitement was pro- 



duced by the revolutionary movement ol 
1848, and a new ministry, pledged to the 
cause of reform, came into office. The 
scheme devised by this ministry was 
accepted by the committee to which it 
was referred, but the provisious of the 
existing constitution rendered it neces- 
sary that the final settlement should 
depend upon the vote of the next diet. 
When the diet met in 1850 it was found 
that the difficulties in the way were for 
the time insuperable. The proposals 
of the Government were approved by a 
majority of the burghers, but they were 
opposed by the nobles, the clergy and 
the peasantry. The solution of the prob- 
lem had, therefore, to be indefinitely 
postponed. 

Valuable Reforms. 

Although the constitution was not 
reformed, much was done in other ways 
during the reign of Oscar I. to promote 
the national welfare. The criminal law 
was brought into accordance with mod- 
ern ideas, and the law of inheritance 
was made the same for both sexes and 
for all classes of the community. In- 
creased freedom was secured for indus- 
try and trade ; the methods of adminis- 
tration were improved ; and the state 
took great pains to provide the country 
v>^ith an efficient railway system. The 
result of the wise legislation of this 
period was that a new spirit of enter- 
prise was displayed by the commercial 
classes, and that in material prosperity 
the people made sure and rapid progress. 

In 1848, when the difficulty abou<' 
Schleswig-Holstein led to war betweeii 
Denmark and Germany, the Swedes 
sympathized cordially with the Danes, 
of whom they had for a long time ceased 
to be in the slightest degree jealous. 



190 



DENMARK, SWKDEN ANJD NORWAY. 



Swedish tn jps were landed in Fiinen, 
and through the influence of the Swed- 
ish government an armistice was con- 
cluded at Malmo. The excitement in 
favor cf Denmark soon died out, and 
when the war was resumed in 1849 
Sweden resolutely declined to take part 
in it. The outbreak of the Crimean 
War greatly alarmed the Swedes, who 
feared that they might in some way be 
dragged into the conflict. 

In 1855, having some reason to com- 
plain of Russian acts of aggression on his 
northern frontiers, the king of Sweden 
and Norway concluded a treaty with 
England and France, pledging himself 
not to cede territory to Russia, and re- 
ceiving from the Western powers a 
promise of help in the event of his be- 
inof attacked. The demands based on 
this treaty were readily granted by 
Russia in the peace of Paris in 1856, 

A Popular Sovereign. 

;harles XV., 1 859-1 872, came to the 
throne after his father's death. Nearly 
two years before his accession he had 
been made regent in consequence of 
Oscar I.'s ill-health. Charles was a man 
of considerable intellectual ability and 
of decidedly ])opular sympathies and 
during his reign the Swedish people 
became enthu'^iastically loyal to his dy- 
nasty. In i860 two estates of the realm 
—the peasants and the burghers — pre- 
sented petitions, begging him to submit 
to the diet a scheme for the reform of 
the constitution. 

The main provisions of the plan of- 
fered in his name were that the diet 
should consist of two chambers, — the 
first chamber to be elected for a term of 
nine years by the provincial assemblies 
and by the municipal corporations of 



towns not represented in these assem- 
blies, the second chamber to be elected 
for a teim of three years by all natives 
of Sweden possessing a specified prop- 
erty qualification. The executive power 
was to belong to the king, who was to 
act under the advice of a council (.t 
state responsible to the national repre- 
sentatives. This plan, which was re- 
ceived with general satisfaction, wa.'-- 
finally adopted by the diet in 1866, ana 
is still in force. 

Norway Free aud Independent. 

Early in the reign of Charles XV. 
there were serious disputes between 
Sweden and Norway, and the union of 
the two countries could scarcely have 
been maintained but foi the tact and 
good sense of the king. 

Charles XV. died in 1 872, and was suc- 
ceeded by his brother Oscar II. Under 
him Sweden has maintained good re- 
lations with all foreign powers, and 
political disputes in the diet have never 
been serious enough to interrupt the 
material progress of the nation. 

The history of Norway since i8i4has 
been practically that of Sweden. In 
that year Charles XIII. of Sweden was 
proclaimed king by the national diet 
assembled at Christiania, and accepted 
the constitution which declared Norway 
to be a free, independent, indivisible 
and inalienable state, united to Sweden. 
In 1893 the eightieth anniversary of the 
union of Norway and Sweden was cele- 
brated ; King Oscar, at a banquet spoke 
strongly in support of the union, spec 
ially in foreign affairs. The fisheries 
have always been a source of profit to 
Norway, and an international exhibition 
was opened at Bergen in May, 1898, 
which was largely attended. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Nations of Southern Europe— Italy, Greece, Turkey and Spain, 




N the 1st of January, 1806, Aus- 
tria lost her Italian possessions 
by the treaty of Pressburg. The 
kingdom ceased on the over- 
throw of Napoleon, 18 14, and the lyom- 
bardo- Venetian kingdom was estab- 
lished for Austria April 7, 1815. The 
legions of Austria were at the service 
of all the petty despots in the other 
jjarts of Italy, while a yet larger army 
of spies was at work in every corner of 
the unhappy country. 

The general misery provoked con- 
spiracy, and revolutionary societies 
sprang up everywhere. But the move- 
ment had as yet no directing head. 
There were risings in Southern Italy in 
1820, but they were suppressed the fol- 
lowing year and the leaders executed, 
and numerous less important insurrec- 
tions there, in the period preceding 
1846, were easily put down. 

Other abortive attempts were made 
in Piedmont, in Lonibardy, in Modena 
and the Romagna, the only result of 
which was to make the ruler's hand yet 
heavier on the people. Nor was there 
thorough unanimity or common action 
among Italian liberals. The extreme 
Republicans, represented by the paity 
of Young Italy, were headed by Mazzini, 
whose fiery eloquence and enthusiasm 
transformed the vague desires of his 
countrymen into a passionate hope ; but 
liis policy sanctioned methods from 
which more sober patriots shrank. 
From Geneva he led a band of refugees 
to the invasion of Savoy, in 1833, 
because the new king, Charles Albert, 
would not enter on a war with Aus- 



tria ; but this wild raid proved an utter 
failure. 

Already the wise minds in Italy looked 
to Sardinia for deliverance; but the 
dream of a confederacy, with perhaps 
the Pope as president, was not yet dis- 
pelled. Nay, it seemed about to bo 
realized when, in 1846, Pius IX. as- 
sumed the tiara, and initiated a series 
of liberal reforms. Constitutions were 
granted in 1847 by all the rulers save 
Austria and Ferdinand II. of Naples; 
and from the latter a constitution was 
wrung in the following year. 

Massacre in Milan. 

The year of revolutions, 1848, opened 
with a street massacre by the Austrians 
in Milan, on January 2nd. In February 
the French Republic was declared, and 
then in Italy the party of Mazzini was 
for a moment supreme. Sicily revolted 
from Ferdinand, and in March Charles 
Albert declared war on the Austrians, 
who had been driven out of Milan and 
Venice. He passed the Ticino, and de- 
feated Radetsky at Goito ; but on July 
25th the Austrians won the decisive 
battle of Custozza, re-entered Milan, 
and placed the country under martial 
law. 

In Naples there had been a massacre 
in May, and on August 30th Messina 
was bombarded. Meanwhile the Pope's 
heart had failed him. His troops had 
gone to the help of the Sardinians, but 
before their surrender he had declared 
their advance to have been without his 
leave. The Republicans, who had re- 
garded his liberal measures with suspi- 

19J 



1 02 



ITALY, GREEClv, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 




VIEW OF NAPLES WITH MOUNT 

cion and jealousy, now denounced him 
as a traitor to the cause of Italian 
freedom. On November 1 5th his wisest 
minister, Count Rossi, was assassinated, 
and Pius fled to Gaeta in disguise. 

In the hope of obtaining some advan- 
tage in the struggle, the Pope had en- 
deavored to establish diplomatic rela- 
■^^ons with Great Britain. These were 
accepted and authorized by Parliament, 
and undoubtedly had some moral effect 
in strengthening the position of the 
Vatican. The revolution, however, went 
forward with unabated vigor, and there 
was a political upheaval that astonished 



VESUVIUS IN THE DISTANCE. 

the thrones of Europe. All the con 
servative elements that st^nd' for sta- 
bility, law and order were called to 
action. 

A republic was set up in Rome on 
February 9, 1849, under Mazzini and 
two other triumvirs. The Grand Duke 
Leopold had fled from Florence, but 
Tuscany refused to join herself to the 
republic ; yet when the sovereign she 
had invited back returned, his first act, 
supported by the presence of Austrian 
troops, was to suppress the constitution. 
In Piedmont the ultra-radicals, headed 
by Rattazzi, were now in power, and a 



ItAtY, GRKECS, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



193 



fresli campaign against Austria was be- 
gun — this time lasting less than four 
days. On March 23, Radetsky defeated 
the Piedmontese at Novara. Charles 
Albert gave up his throne to his sou, 
Victor Emanuel II., and died, broken- 
hearted, at Oporto four months later. 

Efforts were now made to reduce 
Rome and Venice. In vain did Gari- 
baldi, who had been called to the de- 
fense of Rome, defeat the Neapolitans 
at Palestrina and Velletri. A French 
army, under General Oudinot, took the 
city, after a four weeks' siege, on July 
2nd. Venice, under the heroic Daniel 
Manin, bravely kept her enemies at bay 
until August 22nd. The petty sover- 
eigns now came back — the Pope last, 
in April, 1850. Rome, occupied by a 
French garrison, was kept in a state of 
siege for seven years, and the city never 
quite recovered its freedom until 187c. 

Revolution a Failure. 

Italy's first general effort for freedom 
had ended in failure : 1 848 was a year 
of unfulfilled visions. But one important 
gain was affected : the dream of federa- 
tion was ended, and all men looked now 
to the House of Savoy, save the few 
idealists, like Mazzini, who afterwards 
stood sternly apart from the triumphs 
of compromise. 

Victor Emmanuel was faithful to the 
Italian cause, and persevered in the path 
of reform on which his family had en- 
tered. Sardinia was relieved, by the 
law which gave the government power 
to abolish monasteries, from the incu- 
bus of an army of idle and ignorant 
ecclesiastics ; a liberal cotistitution was 
in lorce, the press was free, education 
was spreading, and a measure of religious 
liberty was enjoyed. In 1853 the Sar- 
13 



dinian prime ministry passed into the 
hands of Cavour, the brain, as Gari^ 
baldi was the arm, of the coming strug- 
gle. Henceforth he inspired and guided 
the national movement, until his death 
in the moment of victory. 

Another War. 

The Sardinian troops, reorganized by 
La Marmora, were sent under that gen- 
eral to the Crimea, where they won for 
themselves honor, and for their country 
allies amongst the great powers. Cavour 
made terms with Louis Napoleon, and 
in 1859 war was declared once more 
against Austria. The French and Ital- 
ians won the battles of Magenta and 
Solferino in June, and then the French 
emperor, acting independently, agreed 
to a treaty which left the Austrians in 
possession of Venetia, from the Mincio 
eastward. The indignation of the Pied- 
montese, whose sovereign had, under 
Cavour's agreement with Louis Napo- 
leon, to give up Savoy and Nice in re- 
turn for this assistance, was intense ; but 
the states of Central Italy voted their 
union to the kingdom of Victor Em- 
manuel, and were annexed in March, 
i860; and a few days after Southern 
Italy revolted from Francis II., the son 
of Ferdinand, the detested Bomba. 

Garibaldi and his volunteers, their 
expedition secretly favored by Cavour, 
went to the support of the insurrection 
in May, and in September entered Na- 
ples. Cavour, with the consent of Louis 
Napoleon (who, however, maintained 
the Pope in Rome, because his own 
position in France was strengthened by 
his championing the head of the Cath- 
olic church), now sent an army into the 
papal states, which defeated the Pope's 
troops at Castelfidardo, joined Garibaldi, 



194 



ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



and helped him to defeat the Neapolitan 
generals on the Volturno. 

In October Victor Emmanuel entered 
the Abruzzi, and Garibaldi resigned his 
dictatorship and retired to his island- 
farm. In February, 1 86 1 , the first Italian 
parliament met at Turin, and Victor Em- 
manuel was proclaimed king of Italy. 
But Rome and Venice were not yet 
freed, and Cavour died in June of this 
year. In 1862 Garibaldi raised a body 
of volunteers to liberate Rome, and, 
having crossed to the mainland, was de- 
feated at Aspromonte ; the blame, how- 
ever, fell chiefly on Rattazzi, who was 
then minister, and who had sought to 
follow Cavour' s policy, and to reap the 
advantage of Garibaldi's expedition, but 
had neglected to first come to an under- 
standing with France. 

Garibaldi at the Front. 

The expressed sympathy of Europe 
brought about the September conven- 
tion of 1864, by which Louis Napoleon 
agreed gradually to withdraw the French 
troops on Italy's stipulation not to allow 
an attack on the Pope's territory. By 
the last article of the convention, the 
capital was removed a step nearer Rome 
— from Turin to Florence. 

In 1866 the Austro- Prussian war, in 
which Italy took but an inglorious part 
as the ally of Prussia, added to the king- 
dom the coveted territory of Venice. In 
the same year the French garrison was 
withdrawn from Rome, and Mazzini 
demanded that the city should be cap- 
tured. In 1 867 Garibaldi and his vol- 
unteers gaine a victory near Rome, and 
the French returned ; the volunteers 
surrendered in November, and the gen- 
eral was arrested. But after the fall of 
the empire, in 1870, the new foreign 



minister of France, Jules Favre, de- 
clared the September Convention at an 
end, and the king, who had only pre- 
vented the democrats from moving by 
arresting Mazzini, was at length free 
to act as he desired. 

Free Italy. 

On September 20th he entered Rome, 
and the emancipation of Italy was com- 
pleted. The Pope retained the Vatican, 
the church of Sta Maria Maggiore, the 
Lateran palace, the villa of Castel Gan- 
dolfo, with their precincts, and was 
voted an income of iJ" 150,000 out of the 
revenues of the state ; yet the spiritual 
sovereign bore but impatiently the loss 
of his temporal power, and frequent 
complaints and denunciations were di- 
rected from the Vatican against the 
palace on the Quirinal. 

Meanwhile Italy, at last free and 
united, has become one of the great 
continental powers, as has been shown 
in the preceding sections of this article. 
It will be the hope of all who have fol- 
lowed the story of her long degradation 
and gallant recovery of freedom that 
this rapid growth may not, like her 
earlier precocious development in arts 
and commerce, be bought at the after 
cost of premature decay. 

The later history of Italy has been 
uneventful. Brigandage, rife under the 
tyrannical rule of the Bourbons, and 
afterwards encouraged by their emis- 
saries, has been gradually suppressed, 
education and public works have stead- 
ily advanced, and in the south the people 
have become more reconciled — at least, 
less inveterately hostile — to the laws. 
In January, 1878, Victor Emmanue' 
died, and was succeeded by his eldest 
son, Humbert I.'(born 1844); and one 



195 



month later Pius IX. died also, and Leo 
XIII. became pope. The most important 
internal measure since then has been the 



ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 

tions so far is not great ; but the govern- 
ment has been from time to time em- 
barrassed by the agitation conducted by 





WORLD RENOWNED CATHEDRAL OF MILAN 



wide extension of the franchise, and in 
1883 the resumption of specie payment. 
The popular interest in political ques- 



the Irredentists, whose aim is to add tc 
the kingdom all those districts of Eu- 
rope where the Italian speech prevails. 



196 



ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN, 



In 1883 the ministry denounced the 
scheme of the association, as aiming in- 
directly at the downfall of the monarchy 
and at the same time extolled the triple 
alliance (of Italy, Germany and Aus- 
tria), into which Italy, exasperated at 
the extension of French influence in 
Tunis, had entered. To this same jeal 
ousy of French encroachments on the 
southern Mediterranean shore may be 
attributed the erection into an Italian 
colony, in 1882, of a coaling station 
founded the year before at Assab, on the 
Red Sea. In 1885 Massowah was occu- 
pied, and in 1889 the Italian colonial 
territory was amalgamated under the 
name of Eritrea. 

In January, 1887, a disaster to the 
Italian troops brought on a desultory 
war with Abyssinia, which ended in an 
arrangement, in 1889, that placed the 
latter country under Italian protection. 
In 1888 Signor Depretis, who had 



headed eight ministries, was succeeded 
as premier by Signor CrisiDi. Since 
then the main interest of Italian affairs 
has centered in the finances, and in the 
struggle to meet, out of the resources 
of the country, the expenses of the 
heavy armament. 

On the nth of October, 1897, much 
excitement was caused in Rome by a 
popular demonstration against the 
scheme of taxation on incomes and 
personal property. The populace came 
into conflict with the troops, who at 
length suppressed the uprising. The 
fiftieth anniversary of the Italian consti- 
tution of 1848 was celebrated at Rome 
in March, 1 898, but during May follow- 
ing there were bread riots in various 
parts of the kingdom on account of the 
high prices of food, and quiet was re- 
stored only by the strong arm of the 
military power, by which the turbulent 
uprisings were suppressed. 



If? 



GREECE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



HEN the century began Greece 
was under the sway of Tur- 
key, but the French Revolu- 
tion had roused the minds of the 
Greek people into activity, and they 
were ashamed that a nation which 
had played such a grand part in the 
early civilization of mankind should 
be the slaves of an illiterate and bar- 
barous horde of aliens. The country 
was ripe for revolt, and a secret society 
was formed to make ready for a rising 
of the people. 

Accordingly m 1821 the war for in- 
dependence broke out. The insurrec- 
tioQ was begun by Prince Alexander 
Hypsilantes, an oflScial in the service 



of Russia, who had been elected head 
of the chief secret society. He crossed 
the Pruth, March 6, 1821, with a few 
followers, and was soon joined by sev- 
eral men of great bravery at the head 
of considerable troops. But the expe- 
dition was badly managed, and in June, 
Hypsilantes fled to Austria, having en- 
tirely failed in his object. And in all 
the efforts to overthrow the power of 
the Turks in the northern provinces 
the Greeks failed, though some men 
fought very bravely. 

In the Peloponnesus the insurrection 
broke out also in March in several 
places, and most prominent among the 
first movers was Germanos, archbishop 



ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



197 



of Patras. Everywhere the Greeks 
drove the Turks before them ; they were 
so successful that in January, 1822, the 
independence of Greece was proclaimed. 
But they soon began to quarrel among 
themselves. The aspirants for honors 
and rewards were numberless, and they 
could not agree. 

Accordingly a civil war raged in 1823 
and 1824, inspired by Colocotronis, a 
chief who attained great influence, and 
in 1824 another civil war of short dura- 
tion, called the War of the Primates. 
During this period the Greek fleet was 
very active, and did good service. It 
was ably led by Miaonlis, a man of firm 
character and great skill. And he was 
well seconded by the intrepid Canaris, 
whose fire ships did immense damage 
to the Turkish fleet, and filled the 
Turkish sailors with indescribable terror. 
For the ravages of the Greek fleet the 
Turks wreaked fearful vengeance on 
the innocent inhabitants of the lovely 
island of Chios, April, 1822, butchering 
in cold blood multitudes of its peaceful 
inhabitants, and carrying off others to 
the slave market. The savage atroci- 
ties then perpetrated caused a thrill of 
horror throughout the civilized world. 

Successive Defeats. 

Two years after they perpetrated simi- 
lar outrages on the islands of Kasos and 
Psara, The sultan now invoked the 
aid of Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, 
^nd his stepson, Ibrahim, landed on the 
Peloponnesus with a band of well-dis- 
ciplined Arabs in 1824. Ibrahim carried 
everything before him, and the Greeks 
lost nearly every place that they had 
acquired. Some towns oSered a strong 
resistance, and especially famous is the 
siege of Mesolonghi, which lasted from 



27th of April, 1825 to April 22d, 1826. 
Nothing could exceed the firmness and 
bravery displayed by Greek men and 
women during that siege; and their 
glorious deeds and sad fate attracted 
the attention of all Europe. 

The interest in the Greeks, which 
had been to some extent aroused by 
lyord Byron and other English sympa- 
thizers in 1823, now became intense, 
and volunteers appeared from France 
and Germany as well as from England 
and America. Lord Cochrane was ap- 
pointed admiral of the Greek fleet, and 
Sir Richard Church, generalissimo of 
the land forces, but they did not pre- 
vent the capture of Athens by the 
Turks, June 2d, 1827. Most of the 
European Governments had remained 
indifferent, or had actually discouraged 
the outbreak of the Greeks. Russia 
had disowned Hypsilantes. 

Good Fortune for Greece. 

The monarchs of Europe were afraid 
that the rising of the Greeks was only 
another eruption of democratic feeling 
fostered by the French Revolution, and 
thought that it ought to be suppressed. 
But the vast masses of the people were 
now interested, and demanded from 
their pfovernments a more liberal treat- 
ment of Greece. Canning inaugurated 
in 1823, and now carried out this new 
policy in England. An accident came 
to the aid of the Greeks. The fleets of 
England, France, and Russia were crui- 
sing about the coasts of the Pelopon- 
nesus, to prevent the Turkish fleet 
ravaging the Greek islands or main 
land. 

Winter coming on, the admirals 
thought it more prudent to anchor in 
the Bay of Navarino, where the Turk- 



198 



ITALY, GRBKCB, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



ish fleet lay. The Turks regarded their 
approach as prompted by hostile feel- 
ings and commenced firing on them, 
whereupon a general engagement en- 
sued, in which the Turkish fleet was 
annihilated, October 20th, 1827. Short- 
ly afterward, January 1 8th, 1828, Capo- 
distrias, who had been in the service of 
Russia, was appointed president of 
Greece for seven years, the French 
cleared the Morea of hostile Turks, and 
Greece was practically independent. 

President Assassinated. 

But several years had to elapse ere 
affairs reached a settled condition. Ca- 
podistrias was Russian in his ideas of 
jovernment, and, ruling with a high 
hand, gave great ofience to the masses 
of the people; and his rule came to an 
untimely end by his assassination on Oc- 
tober 9th, 1 83 1. Anarchy followed, but 
at length Otho of Bavaria was made 
king, and the protecting powers signed 
a convention by which the present 
limits were definitely assigned to the 
new kingdom. Henceforth Greece has 
existed as a recognized independent 
kingdom. 

Throughout the whole of the war of 
independence in Greece, the people be- 
haved with great bravery and self-sacri- 
fice. They showed a steady adherence 
to the idea of liberty. They were some- 
times savage in their conduct to the 
Turks, and barbarities occurred which 
stain their history. Yet on the whole 
the historian has nmch to praise and 
little to blame in the great mass, espe- 
cially of the agricultural population. 
But no single man arose during the 
period capable of being in all respects 
a worthy leader. 

Nor can this be wondered at. All 



the men who took a prominent part in 
the movements had received theii train- 
ing in schools where constitutionalism 
was the last doctrine that was likely to be 
impressed on them. Several of them 
had been in the service of Russia, and 
had full faith only in arbitrary power. 
Many of them were accustomed to 
double dealing, ambitious and avari- 
cious. Some of them had been brought 
up at the court of Ali Pasha of Jannina, 
and had become familiar with savage 
acts of reckless despotism. Others had 
been and indeed remained during the 
continuance of the war, chiefs, having 
but little respect for human life, and 
habituated to scenes of cruelty and 
plunder. Some of them also came from 
the Mainotes, who owed their independ- 
ence to the habitual use of arms, and 
who were not troubled by many scru- 
ples. 

Free Only in Name. 

It could not be expected that such men 
v/ould act with great mercy or prudence 
in dealing with Turks who had butch- 
ered or enslaved their kinsmen and 
kinswomen for generations. Even 
amongst the foreigners who volunteered 
to aid the Greeks, few if any were found 
of supreme ability, and after the king- 
dom was established the Greeks were 
unfortunate in the strangers who came 
to direct them. Otho had been brought 
up in a despotic court, and knew no 
other method of ruling. He brought 
along with him Bavarians, to whom 
he entrusted the entire power, and the 
Greeks had the mortification of know- 
ing that, though their kingdom was 
independent, no Greek had a chance 
of being elevated to any ministerial 
office of importance. 

Accordingly a revolution broke out 



ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



199 



in 1843; the Bavarians were dismissed, 
and Otlio agreed to rule through re- 
sponsible ministers and a representa- 
tive assembly. But he failed to fulfill 
his promise. Discontent reached its 
height in 1862, when another revolu- 
tion broke out and Otho had to leave 
Greece. The great mass of the people 
longed for a constitutional monarchy, 
and gave a striking proof of this by 
electing Prince Alfred king of Greece. 
This choice was determined by univer- 
sal suffrage, and out of 241,202 Greek 
citizens who voted 230,016 recorded 
their votes in favor of the English 
prince. The vote meant simply that 
the Greek people were tired of uncon- 
stitutional princes, and hoped that they 
would end their troubles if they had a 
prince accustomed to see parliamentary 
government respected and enforced. 

Threefold Alliance. 

The three protecting powers, — Eng- 
land, France, and Russia, — had how- 
ever bound themselves to allow no one 
related tc their own ruling families to 
become king of Greece. When the 
Greek people received this news, they 
begged England to name a king, and 
after several refusals England found one 
in Prince William of Schleswig-Hol- 
stein, son of the king of Denmark. The 
Greek people accepted him, and in 1863 
he became king with the name of 
George I. Britain added the Ionian 
islands to his kingdom. 

In 1875 the ministry gave great of- 
fence to the Greek people by its uncon- 
stitutional procedure, but the king per- 
sisted in standing by it. The people, 
however, persevered in the use of legi- 
timate means to oust the ministry ; the 
king at last prudently yielded; and thus 



a revolution was prevented. The effort 
of the Greeks to extend their boundaries 
is the last phase of their history, and is 
still in progress. In 1853 when the 
Crimean war broke out, the Greeks 
sided with the Russians, and in 1854 
they made inroads into Thessaly and 
Epirus, but English and French troops 
landed at the Piraeus, and forcibly put 
an end to the Russian alliance and to 
Greek ideas of acquiring additional ter- 
ritory. In 1866 to 1869 the Cretans 
struggled bravely but unsuccessfully to 
throw off the Turkish yoke and become 
a part of the Greek kingdom. 

Desperate Battles. 

The most important events of recent 
date in Greek history are connected 
with the war between Greece and Tur- 
key of 1897, which was declared by 
Turkey on April 17th. It was claimed 
by Turkey that the Greeks were violat- 
ing agreements respecting the bounda- 
ries of territory, and also concerning 
liberties guaranteed to the inhabitants 
of Crete. 

Desperate battles occurred during 
April of 1897, in most of which the 
Turkish arms were victorious. In May 
the mediation of the European Powers 
was accepted and an armistice was pro- 
posed. Cretan autonomy was agreed to 
by Greece, but the Turkish conditions 
for ending the war were $50,000,000 in- 
demnity, the annexation of Thessaly, 
and several other oppressive demands.) 
Meanwhile a desperate battle at Domoko 
resulted in the slaughter of nearly 3,000 
Turks, but the Greek army was finally 
forced to retreat, the result being an- 
other attempt to end the war. 

A collective note of the Powers was 
sent to Turkey proposing conditions of 



200 



ITALY, GREECE. TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



peace. Negotiations were carried on at 
Constantinople, and the Powers resisted 
the demands of the Porte as to the an- 
nexation of Thessaly and the war in- 
demnity. After much sparring on both 
sides, Turkey was compelled to submit 



to the principal demands of the Powers 
and the war was terminated. The treaty 
of peace was signed at Constantinople 
in December, 1897. The final payment 
of the war indemnity was made July 10, 
1898, by the Powers interested. 



TURKEY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



(b I HE Turkish power was at a very 
^j low ebb at the opening of the 
nineteenth century, and many 
of the subject nations, both Christian 
and Mohammedan, sought to throw off 
the yoke of the sultan and establish 
their independence. In 1806 Servia 
revolted under the leadership of Czerni 
George. It was conquered in 18 13, but 
again revolted in 18 15, under Milosh 
Obrenowitz. Montenegro also rebelled, 
and until the Crimean war these pro- 
vinces enjoyed a state of quasi inde- 
pendence. Egypt was also strongly dis- 
affected. In 1809 3- war broke out 
with Russia, which resulted in a further 
loss of Turkish territory. It was closed 
by the treaty of Bucharest, by which 
the sultan ceded to Russia Bessarabia, 
Ismail and Kilia, one-third of Moldavia, 
and fortresses of Chotzim and Bender. 

In 1807 Selim III. died, and was suc- 
ceeded by Mahmoud II., under whom 
the Turkish power continued to decline. 
The population of the Turkish empire 
in Europe was about 14,000,000, of 
whom scarcely 2,000,000 were Turks. 
The remainder were Christians, consist- 
ing principally of the four distinct races 
inhabiting European Turkey, viz. : the 
Sclavonians, occupying Bulgaria, Servia, 
Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro ; 
the Roumanians, occupying Moldavia 
and Wallachia; the Albanians, dwelling 
iu ancient Epirus, and the Greeks. 



The Greeks had never willingly ac- 
cepted the rule of Turkey, and some 
portions of them had never submitted 
to the porte, but had maintained a wild. 
brigandish existence in their moun-. 
tains. Though the Greeks were at- 
tached to Russia by the strong ties of a 
common religion, that power refused 
to do anything for their freedom, and 
Alexander I. met their appeal for aid 
against their Turkish oppressors with 
the cold command : " Let the Greek 
rebels obey their lawful sovereign." 

In spite of this discouragement the 
Greeks determined to throw off the 
Turkish yoke, and in March, 1821, the 
first blow was struck. The people of 
the peninsula and the islands rose in a 
general revolt. When the news of the 
revolution was received at Constancino- 
ple a general massacre of the Greek in- 
habitants of the capital ensued. The 
war went on through the year 1821, the 
patriot forces winning several important 
successes, among which was the capture 
of the Turkish capital of the Morea. In 
January, 1822, a national congress met 
at Epidaurus, proclaimed the independ- 
ence of Greece, and adopted a no vis- 
ional constitution. 

In the spring of the same year the 
Turks made a descent upon Scio, mas- 
sacred 40,000 of the inhabitants, and 
carried away thousands to the slave 
'^narkets of Smyrna and Constantinople. 



ITALY, GREECE. TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



201 



In 1823 the admiration and sympathy 
of all Europe was aroused by the heroic 
death of Marco Bozzaris, who, with a 
small band of Suliote patriots, attacked 
the Turkish camp and fell in the arms 
of victory. 

The Euiopean governments looked 



fore he could accomplish much for the 
cause he had adopted. 

Unable to conquer Greece, the sultan 
summoned Mehemet Ali, the Viceroy 
of Egypt, whc- enjoyed a state of actual 
independence, to complete the task. 
This vigorous leader spread terror and 




GREAT NAVAL BATTLE OF NAVARINO. 



coldly upon the gallant struggle, but 
the people remembered the glories of 
ancient Greece, and supplies of money, 
arm.s, and men were sent to the patriots. 
Foremost among those who devoted 
their fortunes and talents to the free- 
dom of Greece was Lord Byron. He 
died at Missolon^hi in April, 1824, be- 



desolation throughout Hellas. Misso- 
longhi was taken after a heioic defence, 
and Athens was captured in 1825. The 
Egyptian forces had orders to make a 
desolation of Greece, and to carry off 
the people into slavery. 

Alexander I. of Russia fortunately 
died at this juncture, and the Czai 



202 



ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



Nicholas, his successor, adopted a dif- 
ferent policy. Moved either by his 
sympathy with his co-religionists or by 
his anxiety to weaken Turkey, he re- 
solved to intervene in behalf of the 
Greeks, and was joined by France and 
England, who were anxious to impose 
a check upon the Egyptian viceroy. 
These powers sent a strong combined 
leet to the Mediterranean. On the 20th 
of October, 1827, this fleet, under the 
command of the English Admiral Cod- 
rington, accidentally encountered the 
Turkish and Egyptian fleet in the Bay 
of Navarino. A battle ensued, which 
resulted in the destruction of the Mo- 
hammedan fleet. 

Crete and Syria. 

This success revived the hopes of the 
Greeks, and the next year Russia de- 
clared war against Turkey ; and the 
sultan, in order to save his Danubian 
provinces, was obliged to sign the treaty 
of Adrianople, by which he acknowl- 
edged the independence of Greece. 

Mehemet Ali was given the sover- 
eignty of Crete by the sultan for his 
services in the Greek revolution. Not 
satisfied with this acquisition, he sent 
his son Ibrahim Pasha, an able com- 
mander, in 1 83 1, to conquer Syria. 
That country was overrun by the 
Egyptian forces, who also advanced to- 
wards Asia Minor. Their progress was 
at length stayed by the intervention of 
Russia, England, and France, whose 
forces defeated Ibrahim at Nisibis on 
the Euphrates. A few days after this 
battle Sultan Mahmoud died. France 
was anxious that Mehemet Ali should 
succeed him, but England and Rus- 
sia drove him out of Acre and Syria, 
and secured the Turkish throne for 



Abdul Medjid, the young son of Mah- 
moud. 

In 1840 the treaty of London was 
signed. Crete and Syria were restored 
to the Porte, and Mehemet Ali was 
limited to Egypt. For many years after 
this Sir Stratford Canning, afterwards 
Ivord Stratford de Redcliffe, the Eng- 
lish Ambassador at Constantinople, 
controlled the counsels of the Porte. 
By the treaty of London, Egypt be- 
came to a certain extent an indepen- 
dent State, though owning a nominal 
allegiance to the sultan 

The Crimean War. 

In 1 85 1 began the troubles which re- 
sulted in the Crimean War, which wc 
have related elsewhere. The treaty of 
Paris, in 1856, which brought this war 
to a close, admitted Turkey to the Eu- 
ropean system of states, and guaranteed 
the integrity of her dominions. Servia 
was given a native prince, and was 
placed under the protection of the great 
powers, though she retained a nominal 
allegiance to the sultan. Moldavia and 
Wallachia, a few years later, were erec- 
ted into a similarly independent state 
under the name of Rou mania. 

In 1 86 1 Abdul Medjid died, and was 
succeeded by Abdul Aziz. In 1868 a 
formidable insurrection broke out in 
the island of Crete or Candia. It aroused 
great sympathy among the European 
people, and came near producing a war 
between Greece and Turkey, but was 
quelled during the following year by 
the Turks. /* 

Mehemet Ali was succeeded as Vice- 
roy of Egypt by his son Ibrahim Pasha, 
under whose vigorous rule Egypt made 
great progress. He died in 1848, and 
Abbas Pasha became viceroy, and was 



ITALl?. GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



203 



in his turn succeeded by Ismail Pasha, 
the reigning khedive. 

In 1867 the Sultan Abdul Aziz visited 
Paris and London and the principal 
cities of Europe." This was the first 
time a Turkish sovereign ever made a 
peaceful journey beyond the limits of 
his own empire. 

The result of the war between France 
and Germany, in 1870-71, affected Tur- 
key in a most important respect. The 
treaty of Paris, which closed the Cri- 
mean War, placed a restriction upon 
the aggressive power of Russia by neu- 
tralizing the Black Sea. The reverses 
of France in her contest with Germany 
so weakened her that she was unable to 
sustain England in upholding the treaty 
of Paris. Russia promptly took advan- 
tage of this to demand of the powers a 
modification of those articles of the 
treaty which prevented her from forti- 
fying her ports or maintaining an armed 
fleet in the Black Sea. 

A New Treaty. 

England warmly opposed the demand, 
but France was in no condition to do 
so, and Germany and the Austro-Hun- 
garian monarchy gave their moral sup- 
port to the Russian demand, and avowed 
their intention not to co-oj)erate with 
England in any armed resistance to it. 
The result was that a conference of the 
representatives of the powers was held 
in London, and on the 1 3th of February, 
1 87 1, a treaty was signed by them abro- 
gating the articles of the treaty of Paris 
as to the navigation of the Black Sea 
and the right of Russia to fortify her 
ports. The protection afforded to Tur- 
key by the great powers was thus taken 
from her. 

In 1873 the sultan's authority over 



Egypt was further weakened by the 
concessions which made the khedive 
almost an independent sovereign, and 
which we have related in the history of 
Egypt. 

In the summer of 1875 an insurrec- 
tion broke out in Herzegovina. The 
misrule and oppression of the Turkish 
government had come to be insupport- 
able, and the inhabitants rose in rcbeL 
lion and repulsed the attacks of the Tur- 
kish troops. Servia, Bosnia, Montene- 
gro and Bulgaria, were profoundly ex^ 
cited by these events, and were open in 
their sympathy with their struggling 
Christian brethren in Herzegovina. 
Substantial aid was also rendered by 
the people of those countries, the gov- 
ernments of which for a time remained 
neutral. 

Turkey Bankrupt. 

In October, 1875, Turkey failed to 
meet the interest on her national debt, 
the principal of which amounted to over 
$900,000,000. A decree was issued by 
the porte promising speedy payment of 
half the interest and making provision 
for the payment of the other half The 
promise was not fulfilled, and in July, 
1876, the porte was compelled to declare 
its insolvency by stating that all pay- 
ments on account of the national debt, 
must cease until the close of the war with 
its revolted provinces. As nearly every 
dollar of this debt was due to citizens of 
Western Europe, principally English 
subjects, the failure of the Turks to 
meet their obligations greatly weakened 
the friendship which, up to this time, 
the English people had felt for them. 

On the 30th of May, 1876, the Sultan 
Abdul Aziz, to whose mismanagemient 
many of the troubles of the country 



204 



ITAI^Y, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



were due, was forcibly deposed, and 
placed in confinement in one of the 
palaces at Constantinople. On the 4th 
of June he was found dead in his cham- 
ber, having committed suicide. 

Murad (or Amurath) V., the son of 
Abdul Medjid, was proclaimed sultan 
in the place of his uncle. His reign 
was a brief one. He proved so hope- 
lessly imbecile that, on the 3Tst of Au- 
gust, 1876, he was in his turn deposed, 
and was succeeded by his brother Abdul 
Hamid U. 

Massacre of Christians. 

In the meantime the war with Herze- 
govina had been carried on. In Octo- 
ber, 1875, the sultan declared that the 
taxes which had been one cause of the 
revolt, should be lowered from their ex- 
cessive rate to ten per cent., that arrears 
of taxes should be abandoned, and that 
the Christians should be granted a rep- 
resentation in the state councils. The 
Christians had learned from long expe- 
rience to distrust these promises, and 
the war went on. In October, 1875, 
some Christians who had come back to 
their homes from Dalmatia were massa- 
cred by the Turks, and the struggle 
became more bitter in consequence of 
this act. Servia and Montenegro se- 
cretly gave aid to the rebels, and the 
Prince of Servia declared in a speech to 
the national assembly that it was impos- 
sible for Servia to be indiflferent to the 
fate of the Herzegovines. 

It was feared by the European powers 
that thf: troubles in Turkey might be 
the means of embroiling other coun- 
tries in the war, and near the close of 
the year 1875, Germany, Austria, and 
Russia made a combined effort to secure 
peace. Austria^ whose territory ad- 



joined the Turkish dominions, was 
especially fearful that the revolt would 
extend across her border and involve 
her Sclavonic possessions. A joint 
note was drawn up ifi the name of the 
three powers by Count Andrassy, the 
Austrian Prime Minister. This note 
proposed to the sultan to grant certain 
reforms to his Christain subjects. These 
were the establishment of complete re- 
ligious liberty ; the abolition of the 
system of farming out the taxes ; the 
application of the revenue arising from 
indirect taxation in Bosnia and Herze- 
govina to the general purposes of the 
Ottoman government, and the employ- 
ment of the results of the direct taxa- 
tion in the improvement and govern- 
ment of those provinces. 

Turkey Makes Promises. 

The Porte accepted all the reforms 
but the disposition of the taxes, at the 
same time promising to set aside a cer- 
tain sum from the national treasury for 
the local wants of Bosnia and Herze- 
govina. The insurgents were not will- 
ing to trust the pledges of the Porte, 
however, and the war went on. On the 
30th of March, 1876, an armistice was 
concluded, and an effort was made by 
an agent of the Austrian government 
to effect a settlement. The terms de- 
manded by the insurgents were so ex- 
travagant, however, that Austria re- 
fused to consider them. 

The Andrassy note having failed, a 
note was drawn up at Berlin on the 
I ith of May, 1876, by the Prime Min- 
isters of Germany, Austria, and Russia, 
and forwarded to Constantinople. It 
stated peremptorily that as the sultan 
had given the powers a pledge to exe- 
cute the reforms proposed by them, he 



ITALY, GRBECK. TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



205 



had also given them a moral right to 
insist that he should fulfill his promise. 
The note then demanded an armistice 
of two months, and closed with a threat 
that if the sultan failed to comply with 
the demands of the powers, they might 
find it necessary to compel him to do so. 

The note substantially supported the 
demands of the Christians of Herze- 
govina with respect to taxation and the 
restoration of their property, etc. France 
and Italy agreed to support the note, 
but England declined to do so. 

The war had gone on in the mean- 
time, and Bulgaria had become to some 
extent involved in it. Early in May 
the Turkish officials in Bulgaria deter- 
mined to put a stop to the troubles in 
that province by the wholesale exter- 
mination of the Bulgarian Christians. 
A systematic plan was arranged for this 
purpose, and at the appointed time the 
Christians were attacked in their vil- 
lages by the Turks. Many hundreds 
were massacred in cold blood, including 
people of all ages and both sexes; women 
were outraged, property carried oflf or 
destroyed, and villages burned. 

Great Indignation. 

The news of the massacre sent a thrill 
of horror and indignation throughout 
Europe, and the Turks were denounced 
in unmeasured terms. In England, 
which country had until now given its 
moral support to Turkey, the outburst 
of indignation was intense, and the 
popular feeling was so outspoken that 
the government was compelled to pause 
in its support of the sultan and act more 
in sympathy with the other European 
powers. 

An immediate result of the massacres 
was the active participation of Servia 



I in the war. In July, 1876, both Servia 
( and Montenegro declared war against 
Turkey. The Servian army attempted 
to invade Bulgaria, but was so unsuc- 
cessful in its efibrts that on the 24th 
of August Prince Milan accepted 
the offer of England to mediate between 
him and the sultan. Montenegro had 
been generally successful in her efforts, 
but, in view of the action of Servia, con- 
sented to treat for peace. On the ist 
of September England proposed an ar- 
mistice of a month between the bellige- 
rents. 

War Resumed. 

The sultan refused to grant this, but 
declared himself willing to make peace 
on condition that Prince Milan should 
come to Constantinople and do homage 
to him, that Turkish garrisons should 
be placed in four of the Servian for- 
tresses, that Servia should pay an in- 
demnity, and that the porte should be 
allowed to construct and work a rail- 
road through Servian territory. The 
powers refused to allow these terms to 
be discussed. Great Britain now pro- 
posed as a basis of negotiation that Bos- 
nia and Bulgaria should be given local 
self-government without being freed 
from the dependence upon the porte. 
Prince Milan refused to accept this pro- 
posal , and the war was resumed. The 
Turkish armies now prepared to invade 
the territory of Servia, but were checked 
by the interposition of Russia. 

Up to this time the action of ^h.e Rus- 
sian government had been entirely con- 
servative, being confined to its partici- 
pation in the preparation of the diplo- 
matic notes addressed to Turkey. Now 
large numbers of Russian officers and 
soldiers entered the Servian army with 



206 



ITAI.Y, GRKECE. TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



the consent and approval of the czar. 
They enabled the Servians to hold out 
against the Turks until the 31st of Oc- 
tober, when the fortified city of Alex- 
inatz was captured by the latter. This 
success placed Servia practically at the 
mercy of Turkey. In the meantime 
orders had been sent to the Russian am- 
bassador at I/ondon to inform the British 
government that it was the opinion of 
the czar that force should be used to 
stop the war and put an end to Turkish 
misrule. 

Plan of Reform. 

Lord Derby stated that England was 
prepared to unite with Russia in bring- 
ing about an armistice of not less than a 
month, but would not support an armed 
intervention in Turkish affairs. At this 
juncture Turkey, to the surprise of all 
the powers, suddenly offered an armis- 
tice for six months, and announced a 
scheme of reform for the whole empire. 
England, Austria and France favored 
the armistice, but Russia declared that 
she could not ask Servia to accept so 
long a truce since the principality could 
not keep its army on a war footing for 
so long a time ; and this view of the 
case was supported by Italy. 

Russia demanded a truce of four or 
six weeks. The Turkish forces were 
pressing the siege of Alexinatz with en- 
ergy, and it was apparent that that place 
could not hold out much longer. Gen- 
■^«i\ IgnatiejGf, the Russian ambassador 
at Constantinople, was therefore ordered 
to demand of the porte an acceptance 
within forty-eight hours of the armistice 
proposed by Russia. The demand was 
made on the 31st of October, and on 
the same day Alexinatz was captured by 
the Turks. The Russian demand was 



granted by the porte, and the armistice 
was proclaimed. 

Although determined to support Ser- 
via against Turkey, Russia was anxious 
to maintain friendly relations with the 
other European powers. On the 2d of 
November Lord Adolphus Loftus, the 
English ambassador, had an interview 
with the czar at Livadia. The czar 
"pledged his sacred word and honor " 
that he had no intention of acquiring 
Constantinople, and that if necessity 
compelled him to occupy a portion of 
Bulgaria it would only be provisionally, 
and until the safety of the Christian 
population was assured. 

A British Threat. 

These assurances gave great satisfac- 
tion to the English government, which 
now assumed the initiative in proposing 
a general conference of the representa- 
tives of the great powers of Europe to 
meet at Constantinople. On the 4th of 
November the Marquis of Salisbury was 
appointed the English representative. 
The proposal was accepted, but all the 
powers did not send special representa- 
tives. Germany, Russia and Italy con- 
sidered their ambassadors at Constanti- 
nople sufficient ; but Austria and France 
followed the example of England, and 
sent special representatives to assist 
their resident ambassadors. 

Before the conference assembled the 
Earl of Beaconsfield (Disraeli), the 
English premier, delivered a speech 
sharply criticising the Russian attitude, 
and closed it with significant words : 
"While the policy of England is peace, 
no country is so well prepared for war." 
The next day, November 9th, the czar, 
in an address to the nobles and com- 
munal council of Moscow, said: "I 



ITAI.Y, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



207 



hope this conference will bring peace ; 
should this, however, not be achieved, 
and should I see that we cannot attain 
such guarantees as are necessary for 
carrying out what we have a right to 
demand of the Porte, I am firmly deter- 
mined to act independently." These 
.words were generally regarded as a re- 
ply to Lord Beaconsfield's threat, and 
caused considerable excitement in Eu- 
rope, as they implied a possibility of 
war between Russia and England. 

Lord Salisbury reached Constantino- 
ple on the 5th of December. On his 
journey from London he had visited 
Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Rome, and 
had ascertained the views of those gov- 
ernments with respect to the Eastern 
question. Immediately upon reaching 
Constantinople he entered into commu- 
nication with the porte and with the 
foreign ambassadors and representa- 
tives. He was encouraged by this in- 
tercourse to believe that the conference 
would result in a satisfactory settle- 
ment of the troubles. Turkey seemed 
willing to accept a fair proposition of 
settlement, and the Russian ambassador 
was especially cordial in co-operating 
with Lord Salisbury. 

Government Revolutionized. 

Before the conference assembled, a 
very decided change took place in the 
policy of Turkey. On the 22d of 
December Midhat Pasha was made 
igrand vizier. The true meaning of 
this appointment was that Turkey had 
resolved to take her affairs into her 
own hands and to refuse to submit to 
the dictation of the European powers. 
On the 23d the Porte proclaimed the 
new constitution of the Turkish em- 
pire which had been prepared by Mid- 



hat Pasha. This constitution entirely 
revolutionized the Turkish government. 
It provided for a parliament elected by 
the people, and made the sultan a con- 
stitutional instead of an arbitrary sov- 
ereign. The government was to be 
administered by Ministers responsible 
to Parliament, which body was to enact 
the laws necessary for the pacification 
and government of the empire. 

Failure of Conference. 

The conference met on the 23d of 
December, the very day of the promul- 
gation of the constitution. On the 28th 
of December it was resolved to extend 
the armistice to March i, 1877. The 
proclamation of the constitution seemed 
to cut the entire ground from under the 
feet of the conference. The representa- 
tive of the porte maintained that further 
deliberation was unnecessary, since the 
constitution was a sufficient answer to 
the powers. Nevertheless the ses- 
sions were continued, but without ac- 
complishing anything. The confer- 
enre demanded that the reforms in the 
Turkish empire should be executed by 
an international commission, having at 
it3 command a special military force, 
composed partly of Europeans and partly 
of Turks, but Turkey refused to accept 
the demand, and it was abandoned. 

Though Turkey was willing to pledge 
herself for the execution of the reforms, 
she steadily refused every material guar- 
antee for the execution of this pledge 
suggested to her. The conference then 
reduced its demands to insisting that 
the Governors of Bosnia and Bulgaria 
should be appointed with the consent of 
the powers, and that the powers should 
be allowed to form an international 
commission, which should, however, 



SOS 



ITALY, GRBECB, tURKKY AND Sl'AlN. 



have no military means of executing its 
decrees. On the i8th of January, 1877, 
the porte firmly rejected these demands, 
and the conference came to an inglori- 
ous end. 

During the sessions of the conference 
Roumania became alarmed at the terms 
of the constitution, the first article of 
which declared that the Ottoman em- 
pire, includingthe privileged provinces, 
forms an indivisible unity from which 
no portion can ever, on any ground, be 
detached, while the seventh article gives 
to the sultan the right of investiture of 
the rulers of the privileged provinces. 
On the 5th of January, 1877, the Rou- 
manian senate passed a resolution de- 
claring that the rights of the princi- 
pality should remain intact, and calling 
upon the government to maintain them 
in a manner worthy of the state. The 
excitement in Roumania was so great 
that in a few days the porte officially 
declared that the constitution was purely 
internal, and did not affect the rights of 
a principality which were guaranteed by 
international treaties. 

A Nation Without Friends. 

The obstinacy of Turkey in refusing 
the demands of the powers lost her the 
few friends she had left in Europe. 
The cause of this obstinacy was the 
Vizier Midhat Pasha, who, losing sight 
of the fact that the Turkish empire 
owed its existence in Europe entirely 
to the mutual jealousy of the great 
powers, haughtily refused to allow any 
interference with its affairs. His impe- 
rious will soon rendered him obnox- 
ious to the sultan, who grew restless 
under the control of the man who had 
already deposed two sultans within a 
year, and who would not hesitate to 



depose another should it suit his put- 
pose. 

Accordingly on the 5 th of February, 
1877, Midhat Pasha was removed from 
his office of vizier and ordered to quit 
Constantinople. He was succeeded by 
Edhem Pasha, who had served as one 
of the members of the conference, and 
who had distinguished himself by his 
bitter opposition to all the proposals of 
the foreign representatives. 

Efforts for Peace. 

Edhem Pasha at once devoted himself 
to the task of making peace with the 
rebellious principalities. He opened 
negotiations with Servia, and by the 
last of February concluded a treaty of 
peace with that principality. By the 
terms of the treaty the Servians were to 
retain their fortresses, were to salute 
the Turkish flag, and were to prevent 
armed bands from crossing the frontier. 
The Turkish troops, on their part, were 
to evacuate the positions held on Ser- 
vian territory. The treaty was ratified 
on the 3d of March, and a week later 
the Turkish forces withdrew from Ser- 
via, relinquishing Alexinatz and Saits- 
char to the Servians. 

Negotiations had been opened with 
Montenegro at the same time that those 
with Servia were begun, but they proved 
more protracted and troublesome. Prince 
Nicholas at first demanded that the 
negotiations should be conducted at 
Vienna ; but the Porte refused this, and 
the prince sent a delegation to Constan- 
tinople. The armistice was extended 
to the 13th of April. The Montenegrin 
demands were, briefly, the cession of 
Nicsics, which had been besieged by 
their forces for several months, the ces- 
sion of a seaport, and such a rectifica- 



ITALY, GRKKCE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



209 



tiou of their frontier as would increase 
their territory al>out one-half its present 
extent. 

As the Montenegrins held actual 
possession of most of the territory 
demanded by them, they had the ad- 
vantage of the Porte. The latter refused 
to grant any extension of territory, and 
towards the close of March Prince 
Nicholas instructed his representatives 
to abate their demands somewhat, but 
to insist upon the cession of Nicsics. 
On the loth of April the Turkish par- 
liament, to which the matter was re- 
ferred, rejected the demands of Monte- 
negro, and the next day the representa- 
tives of that principality were informed 
of this decision, and were told that the 
armistice would not be renewed. Two 
days later the Montenegrin delegates 
set out for home, going by way cf 
Odessa., in order to have an interview 
with the czar and the Russian com- 
mander. 

Trying to Gain Time. 

Russia had by this time fully deter- 
mined to take part in the war, but being 
as yet unprepared, endeavored by skillful 
diplomacy to gain time. On the 31st of 
January Prince Gortschakofif addressed 
to the Russian representatives at the 
courts of the powers concerned in the 
treaty of Paris a circular, in which he 
related the diplomatic efforts that had 
been made to secure the pacification of 
Turkey, and stated that the czar, before 
determining upon a course for the future, 
wished to know what course would be 
determined upon by the other powers. 
On the 9th of March Turkey met this 
circular by one of her own addressed to 
the guaranteeing powers, stating that 

''the reform <i proposed by the conference 
14 



and accepted by the imperial govern* 
ment are already being applied." 

On the 19th of March the Turkish 
parliament was formally opened with 
imposing ceremonies and renewed prom- 
ises of reform. The great powers, 
however, were suspicious of Turkey's 
promises, and were determined to de- 
mand further guarantees. Accordingly 
the Russian, French, German, Austrian 
and Italian ambassadors at lyondon held 
several conferences with Lord Derby, 
the British foreign minister, the result 
of which was the signing, on the 31st of 
March, of a protocol by them in behalf 
of their respective governments. 

Turkish Government Watched. 

This document declared that "the 
powers proposed to watch carefully, by 
means of their representatives at Con- 
stantinople ^ and their local agents, the 
manner in which the promises of the 
Ottoman government are carried into 
effect ; ' ' and in case these promises were 
not faithfully carried out, the powers 
reserved the right of common action 
"to secure the well-being of the Chris- 
tian population and the interests of the 
general peace." Before signing this 
document Count Schouvalofif, the Rus- 
sian ambassador, made a declaration to 
the effect that if the porte showed itself 
ready to disarm, it should send a special 
envoy to St. Petersburg to treat for a 
mutual disarmament. Lord Derby, on 
behalf of Great Britain, declared that if 
a reciprocal disarmament and peace did 
not result, the protocol was to be re- 
garded as null and void. 

The answer of the porte to the pro- 
tocol was a defiant circular addressed to 
its representatives abroad, in which, 
while it did not entirely reject the pro- 



^10 



ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



tocol, it warmly resented the threat of 
foreign intervention in the internal af- 
fairs of Turkey, repelled Count Schou- 
valoff's suggestion of intervention, and 
declined to send a special envoy to St. 
Petersburg. The circular was dated 
the loth of April. When the Turkish 
ambassador in London delivered this 
circular to Lord Derby on the 12th of 
April, the British foreign minister 
expressed to him his deep regreft at 
the course Turkey had seen fit to pur- 
sue, and said he could not see what 
further steps England could take to 
avert the war, which now seemed in- 
evitable. 

Every effort for peace having failed 
through the obstinacy of the porte, 
Russia declared war against Turkey on 
the 24th of April, 1877, an account of 
which is given elsewhere. 

In 1897 the whole civilized world was 
shocked by Turkish atrocities in Arme- 
nia. The slaughter of 40, 000 Armenian 
Christians, if not by direct orders from 
the Turkish government, yet certainly 
with permission from those who could 
have put a stop to these inhuman out- 



rages, forms one of the most revolting 
pages of history. England and America 
were aroused by these bloody atrocities, 
which were considered to be quite in 
keeping with the Turkish character and 
methods, and vigorous protests were 
made, both in public meetings and 
through the newspaper press. 

Turkey disavowed responsibility as 
far as possible for these wholesale mur- 
ders, which was only to be expected. It 
was an outbreak of Mohammedan fanati- 
cism, and it was felt that our government 
would be justified in taking the strongest 
measures for the protection of American 
missionaries and their families. Large 
sums of money were raised in England 
and this country for the relief of the 
sufferers. A great public meeting was 
held in Liverpool, which was presided 
over by Mr. Gladstone, who denpunced 
with all his burning eloquence the mur- 
ders committed by barbarous Turkey. 
After the crime was ended public indig- 
nation became quiet, and Turkey had 
accomplished her object without being 
called to a solemn account by othei 
nations. 



SPAIN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 




"PON the return of peace, in 18 15, 
after the Napoleonic wars, Fer- 
dinand VII. was restored to 
the throne of his fathers. 
He at once re-established the Inquisi- 
tion and the convents which had been 
suppressed by the French. Tyranny 
was restored in its most odious form, 
and the Spanish people found that all 
their struggles against Napoleon had 
ended in the loss of their freedom. 

The Spanish colonies in America, 
encouraged by the example of the United 



States, had renounced their allegiance 
to Spain in 1810, upon the fall of Fer- 
dinand, and had proclaimed their inde • 
pendence. Upon his return to his throuii 
Ferdinand set to work to recover these 
colonies. He made great exertions and 
spent large sums to reconquer them, but 
in the end failed, and the dominion of 
Spain on the American continent came 
to an end. The struggle with the colo- 
nies exhausted the Spanish treasury and 
left the army unpaid and half mutinous 
and the nation discontented. 



ITALY, GREECE. TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



2n 



The result was a revolution in 1820, 
which compelled Ferdinand to abolish 
the Inquisition and the convents, and 
restore the liberal constitution of 181 2. 
The Holy Alliance now intervened, and 
demanded the abolition of this constitu- 
tion and the restoration of absolutism. 
The cortes refused to comply with this 



incline him to a more liberal course, but 
he turned a deaf ear to them and pun- 
ished the liberal leaders that fell into his 
power with savage cruelty. So great 
was the discontent of the Spanish 
people that Ferdinand was only upheld 
on his throne by the French troops, 
who remained in Spain for seven years. 




THE ESCURIAL— THE PALACE OF THE KINGS OF SPAIN. 



demand, and Spain was invaded in 1823 
by a French army under the Duke of 
Angouleme. The liberals were defeated 
in every quarter, and Cadiz, their last 
stronghold, was taken in 1823, Ferdi- 
nand VII. was restored to his absolute 
rule, and proceeded to take vengeance 
upon his enemies. 

The French generals endeavored to 



In 1833 Ferdinand died, leaving tw" 
daughters, the elder of whom was but 
three years old. In September, 1830, 
he had issued a pragmatic sanction, 
which annulled the law excluding 
women from the Spanish throne. Upon 
his death his brother, Don Carlos, pro- 
duced a paper which lie claimed was 
signed by Ferdinand, which revoked 



212 



ITAI.Y, GREKCE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



the pragmatic sanction, and which Don 
Carlos oflfered in support of his own 
claim to the crown. 

Spain was at once divided between 
two parties — the liberals, who supported 
the regency of the queen-mother, Chris- 
tina of Naples, and the Carlists, or par- 
tisans of Don Carlos. England and 
France favored the former, but the pope 
and the northern powers sustained Don 
Carlos. A civil war ensued, and the 
liberals finally triumphed, and procured 
the acknowledgment of the young queen 
Isabella II. Don Carlos, however, con- 
tinued the war until 1840, when he was 
finally defeated and forced to abandon 
the struggle. 

Royal Marriages. 

A considerable party desired that the 
young queen should marry her cousin, 
the Count of Montemolin, the son and 
heir of Don Carlos, a union which would 
have united all the claims to the crown, 
and have restored peace to Spain. France 
and England, however, opposed this 
union, and Louis Philippe resolved to 
make Queen Isabella's marriage the 
means of strengthening his dynasty. 
He succeeded in inducing her to marry 
her cousin, Don Francisco of Assis, who 
was little better than an idiot, and at the 
same time married his youngest son, the 
Duke of Montpensier, to the Princess 
Maria Louisa, the sister of Queen Isa- 
bella, and who, from her more vigorous 
health, seemed likely to outlive her sis- 
ter. This cunning scheme, so character- 
istic of the selfish king of the French, 
resulted in more injury than benefit to 
the Orleans monarchy. 

In 1843 Queen Isabella was declared 
of age, and from this time Spain was 
governed as a constitutional state. The 



queen, who was a woman of notoriously 
evil life, took but little part in the gov- 
ernment, which was administered prin- 
cipally by her favorites and a succession 
of popular generals. The result was 
that the kingdom was almost constantly 
in a state of civil war. In 1868 Gonzales 
Bravo became prime minister. He 
caused the arrest and banishment of 
seven of the leading generals of the 
army, and also of the Duke and Duch- 
ess of Montpensier, the latter of whom 
the reader will remember was the sister 
of the queen. The banished generals 
each had adherents in the army, and 
a revolution at once broke out. The 
queen's troops were defeated, and she 
herself was driven out of Spain. She 
took refuge in France. The Bourbon 
dynasty was declared at an end in Spain 
and a provisional government was set 
up in Madrid, with Marshal Serrano, 
one of the banished generals, at its head. 

Continued Dissensions. 

The unhappy kingdom was once more 
divided as to the form of government it 
should adopt. A small, cultivated class 
wished to set up a republic, but the great 
body of the nation desired a constitu- 
tional monarchy. Don Carlos, a grand- 
son of the queen's uncle of the same 
name, proclaimed himself king as 
Charles VII., and was supported by 
a considerable party. In June, 1870, 
Queen Isabella abdicated her crown in 
favor of her son, the Prince of Asturias, 
then eleven years old, and his claims 
were supported by the French govern- 
ment, which hoped through him to 
establish its influence in Spain. The 
Spanish nation, however, refused to 
accept him. The crown was then 
offered to the King of Portugal, who 



ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY AND SPAIN. 



213 



declined it for both himself and his 
brother. 

General Prim, who had become the 
ruling spirit of the Spanish Govern- 
ment, then selected Prince Frederick, 
of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a distant 
relative of the King of Prussia. The 
invitation was declined by Prince Fred- 
erick in the summer of 1870, and was 
transferred to his younger brother, 
Prince Ivcopold. The Freuch Govern- 
ment, as we have seen, made this choice 
the pretext for war with Prussia. Prince 
Leopold, in consequence of this, declined 
the Spanish invitation. 

Deeds of Violence. 

After this the Spanish crown was 
offered to Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, the 
second son of Victor Emmanuel, King 
of Italy, and was accepted by him. He 
was formally chosen by the cortes on 
on the 1 6th of December, 1870. A few 
days later he set out for Spain, landing 
at Carthageua. The festivities attend- 
ing his arrival were brought to an end 
by the assassination of General Prim, 
the wisest and best of Spanish statesmen 
of the time, on the 29tli of December. 
On the 30th King Amadeo was crowned, 
and gave his consent to a liberal consti- 
tution, which guaranteed civil and reli- 
gious liberty to the nation. 

Amadeo found his throne anything 
but a bed of roses. The liberal party 
desired still great changes, and the ad- 
herents of Don Carlos, supported by the 
constant intrigues of the priests, were 
plotting the overthrow of the liberal 
monarchy. In April, 1872, the Carlists 
rose in open rebellion in the northern 
provinces; and on the 19th of July in 
the same year a dastardly attempt was 
made to assassinate the king and queen. 



Thoroughly disgusted with his subjects, 
Amadeo resigned his crown on the i ith 
of February, 1873. His abdication was 
followed by the proclamation of a re- 
public, which, in 1875, gave place to a 
monarchy under Alfonso. 

Castelar was made president of the 
new republic, which, a year later, was 
overthrown. Alfonso XII. was pro- 
claimed king December 30, 1874. Ten 
days later the king landed at Barcelona, 
and prepared to enter upon his reign. 
The year 1876 was signalized by the end 
of the Carlist war and the restoration of 
peace. Alfonso died November 25th, 
1885, and was succeeded by the regent, 
Q ueen Christina. On the opening of the 
cortes, December ist, 1887, the infant 
King was enthroned, and in a speech 
read on that occasion the queen-regent 
announced that the country was quiet 
and prosperous. During October, 1888, 
there was a republican outbreak at Sara- 
gossa against conservatives ; soon after- 
ward outbreaks occurred at Seville and 
Madrid. The ministry resigned Decern- 
ber 9th, and was reconstituted bv Senoi 
Sagasta. 

Spanish Republic 

In the early part of 1889 amnesty 
was offered to political offenders, and 
efforts were made to suppress discon- 
tent. 

In April, 1898, war broke out between 
Spain and the United States, in which 
the former was disastrously defeated. 
Her navy was swept from the sea, and 
she was compelled to relinquish Cuba, 
Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. 
The details of the struggle have been 
narrated in the history of the United 
States in the nineteenth century, and 
need not be repeated here. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Canada, Mexico and South America. 



iTN 1 79 1 the British parliament divided 
HJ Canada into two provinces, called 
JX Upper and Lower Canada, and gave 
to each a legislative council ap- 
pointed by the crown, and a popular 
issembly chosen by the people. Over 
^ach province was placed a governor ap- 
pointed by the crown. In the hope of in- 
aroducing the Church of England as the 
jeligious establishment of the provinces, 
Lin area of 3,400,000 acres of the public 
land was set apart for the endowment of 
die clergy. The effort proved a failure, 
md in 1854 the lands were devoted to 
secular purposes, and the idea of estab- 
.ishing a state church was abandoned. 

The provinces grew steadily in popu- 
lation and prosperity, and if their ad- 
vance was not as rapid as that of their 
southern neighbor, the United States, 
' yet it was as substantial. As the bitter 
feelings engendered by the war died 
away, cordial relations sprang up be- 
tween Canada and the United States, 
and a profitable commerce was inaugu- 
rated between them, and grew steadily 
year by year until it attained its present 
vast proportions. 

The introduction of steamboats upon 
the St. Lawrence and the lakes did 
much to promote the growth of Canada, 
and increased its internal and foreign 
commerce in a marked degree. In 1824 
the Welland canal was begun, and was 
completed in 1829, giving a continuous 
water passage from Lake Ontario to 
Lake Erie. It was followed by the 
Lachine and other canals, all of which 
have been important agents in the 
growth of Canadian commerce. 
214 



In the early part of the nineteenth 
century a bitter dispute arose in Canada 
concerning the proper interpretation of 
the act of parliament for the govern- 
ment of the two provinces. One party 
insisted that Canada was in possession 
of a transcript of the British constitu- 
tion, and that the council, which con- 
stituted the advisers of the governors 
in matters of state, should be responsi- 
ble to the popular assembly. The other 
party maintained that tlie council was 
responsible to the governor only, and 
that the assembly had no claim upon it. 
The disputes ran very high, and the 
trouble was increased by the general 
course of the governors of the prov- 
inces, who administered their govern- 
ments in an arbitrary manner, paying 
little attention to the popular assem- 
bly, and utterly disregarding the de- 
mands of the people. 

Canadian Rebellion. 

In Lower Canada the popular dis- 
content was very great, and in 1837 a 
portion of the inhabitants of that prov- 
ince, under the leadership of Louis 
Joseph Papineau, took up arms with 
the avowed purpose of throwing off the 
rule of Great Britain. They were de- 
feated by the government troops in a 
series of engagements, and were at 
length compelled to submit. Papineau 
and the other leaders fled the coun- 
try. In December, 1837, the popular 
party of Upper Canada, indignant at 
the arbitrary measures of Sir Francis 
Head, the governor, rose in rebellion 
under the leadership of William Lyon 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



215 



Mackenzie. The revolt was suppressed 
by tl>e government forces after some 
serious conflicts with the insurgents. 

For some weeks the insurgents had 
possession of Navy Island, situated in 
the Niagara river, just above the falls. 
Considerable sympathy was manifested 
for them by the people of the State of 
New York, and substantial aid was 
rendered them in spite of the efforts of 
the President of the United States and 
the governor of New York to prevent 



moored at her dock. The boat was cap- 
tured after a short struggle, in which 
one American was killed, and was car- 
ried out into the stream and set on fire 
She drifted down to the falls, and 
plunged over them in a blaze. The 
British Minister at Washington at once 
declared the responsibility of his gov- 
ernment for the capture of the boat, and 
justified it on the ground of self-defence. 
In the meantime the President had 
sent General Wool with a strong force to 




PARLIAMENT HOUSE, OTTAWA. 



it. Navy Island forms a part of Canada, 
and lies near the shore of that country. 
The insurgents in possession of the 
island employed the steamboat Caro- 
line to convey men and provisions 
from the town of Schlosser, on the 
American shore, to the island. 

The British authorities in Canada 
determined to destroy the boat. One 
dark night in December, 1837, a de- 
tachment from Canada was sent to 
Navy Island for this purpose. Not 
finding the Caroline there, they went 
over to Schlosser, where she was 



the Canadian border with orders to pre- 
vent any expedition from leaving this 
country to aid the Canadians. He com- 
pelled the force on Navy Island to sur- 
render, but the border war continued un- 
til the close of 1838, when it was ended. 
These outbreaks drew the attention 
of the British government more closely 
to the defective system of government 
in operation in Canada. The people of 
Canada addressed petitions to the crown,' 
praying for a union of the provinces. 
This prayer was granted, and in 1841 
the two provinces were united under 



216 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



one government, which was modeled 
upon the British system, and was in 
every respect a vast improvement upon 
<he former establishments. The coun- 
try was now styled the Province of 
Canada. In 1849 ^ general amnesty to 
all who had taken part in the rebellion 
jf 1837 was passed. 

In 1849 a bill was introduced into 
the Canadian parliament to indemnify 
certain persons for the losses sustained 
by them during the rebellion. This 
measure was bitterly opposed by the 



vaded by the Fenians, an organizatioc 
of Irishmen dwelling in the United 
States. This insane movement was 
met promptly by the Canadian authori- 
ties, and the President of the United 
States sent General Meade, with a suf- 
ficient force of troops, to the Canadian 
border to arrest the Fenian leaders and 
to seize their supplies. 

On the 4th of December, 1866, dele- 
gates appointed by the legislative as- 
semblies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and 
New Brunswick met at Ivonlion to 




UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. 



people of Montreal, and gave rise to a 
formidable and disgraceful riot, in 
which the parliament was dispersed 
and the parliament house burned down 
by the mob. This riot induced the 
parliament to remove the seat of gov- 
ernment to Toronto for the next two 
years, and to Quebec for the four suc- 
ceeding years. In 1857 Ottawa was 
selected as the permanent seat of gov- 
ernment, and costly public buildings 
were erected there for the use of the 
various departments of the state. 

In the spring of 1866 Canada was in- 



arrange the terms of a confederation. 
This task was successfully performed, 
and on the 7th of February, 1867, a 
bill was introduced into the British 
parliament creating the union. It passed 
both houses, and on the 29th of March 
received the royal assent. On the 22nd 
of May the queen issued her proclama- 
tion appointing the ist of July, 1867. 
as the day from which the new confed- 
eration should date its existence. 

The new State was styled the Do- 
minion of Canada, and was given the 
right of self-government. The Gov- 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



217 



ernor-General of Canada is appointed 
by the crown, but all the other offices 
are filled by the people or by their 
chosen delegates. Canada is thus prac- 
tically independent of Great Britain, 
though constituting an important part 
of the British empire, and owing alle- 
giance to the British sovereign. 

Purchase of Territory. 

In 1870 Manitoba and the northwest 
territories were purchased from the 
Hudson Bay Company and added to 
the dominion. In 1871 British Colum- 
bia joined the confederation, and in 
1873 Prince Edward's Island did like- 
wise. 

Since the confederation of the prov- 
inces the chief events have been as 
follows : the Red River rebellion, which 
collapsed in August, 1870 ; treaty of 
Washington, 1871, dealing with fish- 
eries and the mutual use of certain 
canals ; outbreak of half-breeds under 
Louis Reil, in March, 1885, resulting 
in the speedy suppression of the rebel- 
lion and Riel's execution ; and the 
treaty for the settlement of the fisheries 
dispute, signed by the British and 
United States representatives February 
15, 1888. In October, 1891, the Do- 
minion government refused to acqui- 
esce in the copyright treaty between 
England and the United States, claim- 
ing that the treaty was not international. 

On the 29th of July a motion for un- 
restricted reciprocity with the United 
States was rejected after a long debate 
in the house of Commons. 

The Great Canadian Pacific Railroad 
was completed in 1891. Entrance to 
New York was given over the New 
York Central lines. It was universally 



believed that the completion of this 
important railway would have much to 
do with the development of the re- 
sources of Canada, especially the mining 
industries of British Columbia, and this 
has proved true. 

In 1892 an attempt was made to bring 
about 1 more complete reciprocity be- 
tween Canada and the United States. 
Representatives of both countries were 
appointed to take the subject into con- 
sideration and recommend practical 
methods by which closer commercial 
relations could be established. Unfor- 
tunately the negotiations amounted to 
nothing, and were discontinued in June 
of that year. The subject, however, 
was not allowed to drop, but was 
favorably discussed in a convention at 
Ottawa called in 1 893 for the purpose 
of promoting tariff reform. 

Vast Wealth of Mines- 

In January, 1897, a Toronto syndicate 
purchased the War Eagle mine in Brit- 
ish Columbia for the sum of ;^850,ooo. 
This purchase had much to do with 
stimulating the mining interests of that 
province. Attention was called to the 
great mineral wealth of that section, 
which resulted in large investments on 
the part of Canadian capitalists and 
others in the United States. 

The discovery of gold in the Klon- 
dike region caused a great rush to the 
gold fields, and necessitated specisfl leg- 
islation by the Canadian Parliament for 
the right adjustment of claims and the 
preservation of law and order. During 
the year large sums of gold arrived at 
Victoria, British Columbia, and along 
with them tales of suffering and priva- 
tion endured by many of the miners. 



218 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



MEXICO IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



^-^V^EXICO has been the scene of 
I— I =/ many revolutions, and for 

J ajja I centuries was in a state of 
almost constant turmoil. 
This can be accounted for by Spanish 
greed and oppression, which the people 
from time to time resisted, being as often 
overcome by superior force after suffer- 
ing many indignities and after convul- 
sions which frequently resulted in great 
loss of life. 

Insurgents Executed. 

The overthrow of the reigning house 
of Spain, and the elevation of Joseph 
Bonaparte to the Spanish throne, caused 
profound discontent in Mexico. All 
classes resented it. It became necessary 
to make certain modifications in the 
government to suit the altered state of 
affairs. On the i6th of September, 
1808, the viceroy, Don Jose de Iturri- 
garay, was arrested and imprisoned on 
suspicion of a design to seize the crown 
of Mexico. This act greatly increased 
the popular discontent, and the aspira- 
tions for independence took, as it were, 
new life from this moment. On the 
15th of September, 18 10, a formidable 
revolt broke out in the province of 
Guanajuato, under the leadership of 
Don Miguel Hidalgo, a priest. It was 
suppressed the next year, and Hidalgo 
and the other leaders were shot. 

This revolt was followed by a guerilla 
warfare of several years, under the lead- 
ership of Morelos, Victoria, Guerrero, 
Bravo, Rayon, and Teran. The patriot 
forces were compelled to cling to the 
mountains, but their unceasing resist- 
ance kept alive the long-cherished hope 
for independence. It seemed, however, 



that the authority of Spain was fully 
restored, and that the patriot cause was 
hopeless. 

The revolution of 1820 in Spain re- 
vived the enthusiasm of the national 
party in Mexico, and a new leader ap- 
peared. This was Don x\ugustin Itur- 
bide, a native Mexican, who had dis- 
tinguished himself in the civil war as 
an ofificer in the royalist service. On 
the 24th of February, 1821, he issued a 
proclamation declaring Mexico inde- 
pendent of Spain, and calling upon the 
Mexicans to sustain him. The revolt 
was successful. The whole country ac- 
knowledged his authority, the royal 
government was overthrown, and on 
the 27th of September the city of Mexico 
was surrendered to him by the viceroy 



A 



A New Emperor, 
regency was established, and oti 



19th of May, 1822, Iturbide was pro 
claimed Kmperor of Mexico by the 
army. This act gave great offence to 
the other patriot leade'rs, and on the 2d 
of December, Santa Anna, with the sup- 
port of Bravo, Guerrero, and others, pro- 
claimed the republic at Vera Cruz. A 
civil war was averted by the abdication 
of Iturbide on the 19th of March, 1823. 
A national congress was at once con- 
vened. Iturbide was condemned to 
exile, and sailed for England in May, 

1823. 

A provisional government was set up, 
and on the 4th of October, 1824, the 
Congress adopted a constitution mod- 
eled upon that of the United States. By 
virtue of this instrument Mexico be- 
came a republic consisting of nineteen 
States and five territories. General Vic- 




SLAUGHTER OF THE MEXICANS BY THE SPANIARDS. 



219 



220 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



toria, one of the popular leaders, was 
chosen president. Iturbide now re- 
turned to attempt the recovery of his 
throne, but was made prisoner, and was 
shot on the 19th of July, 1824. 

President Overthrown. 

In 1828 the election of General Pe- 
draza to the presidency over General 
Guerrero led to a revolt on the part of 
the followers of the latter. The out- 
break was successful. Pedraza was 
overthrown and driven from the coun- 
try, and Guerrero assumed the presi- 
dency on the ist of April, 1829. In the 
same year the United States recognized 
Mexico as an independent republic. In 
July, 1829, a Spanish force landed near 
Tampico to attempt the restoration of 
the rule of Spain. It was compelled to 
surrender on the nth of September. 
The troops were disarmed and sent to 
Havana. 

Mexico, though independent, was not 
destined to enjoy the blessing of a stable 
government. Soon after the surrender 
of the Spaniards, the vice-president. 
General Bustamante, pronounced against 
Guerrero, deposed him, and was himself 
elected president January 11, 1830. He 
was succeeded by Pedraza, who three 
months later, was deposed by Santa 
Anna, who became president April i, 
1833. Bustamante and several leading 
men were exiled by the new president. 
Congress now enacted a law abolishing 
the compulsory payment of tithes, and 
it was proposed to confiscate the prop- 
erty of the church and apply it to the 
payment of the national debt. 

These measures led to several out- 
breaks, the result of which was the re- 
peal, in 1835, of the constitution of 
1824, and the change from a confedera- 



tion of states into a consolidated repub- 
lic, with Santa Anna at its head as dic- 
tator, though retaining the title of presi- 
dent. 

Texas, then a state of the republic, 
refused to accept this change, and pro- 
claimed its independence. Santa Anna 
marched against the Texans in 1836, 
but after gaining some success, was de- 
feated and made prisoner in the battle 
of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. 

The captivity of Santa Anna brought 
back the reign of anarchy in Mexico. 
Bustamante returned from exile, and on 
the 19th of April, 1837, became presi- 
dent. Later in the year Santa Anna 
returned to Mexico, and the real power 
passed into his hands. In March, 1839, 
a new revolution broke out, and Santa 
Anna once more became president. In 
July he was overthrown by General 
Nicolas Bravo, who held the office for 
one week. 

Disorder and Violence. 

A period of confusion followed ; the 
constitution was suspended ; and a dic- 
tatorship, consisting of Santa Anna, 
Bravo and Canalizo, was set up. In 
June, 1843, 3- i^sw constitution was pro- 
claimed, and Santa Anna became con- 
stitutional president in 1844. ^^ f'^w 
months later he was driven from power 
by a revolution, and on the 20th of Sep- 
tember, 18^4, Canalizo became presi- 
dent, only to be himself deposed in the 
following December by General Her- 
rera, who was deposed by a new revolu- 
tion on the 30th of December, 1845, 
which made General Paredes president. 

During Herrera's administration Mex- 
ico became involved in a quarrel with 
the United States, growing out of the 
annexation of Texas by the latter power. 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



221 



The details of this war have been rela- 
ted in " Great Events of American His- 
tory," in another part of this volume, 
to which the reader is referred. During 
the struggle Santa Anna returned from 
exile, overthrew Paredes, made himself 
president, and took personal command 
of the army. The war resulted in the 
triumph of the American forces, and by 
the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, signed 
in February, 1848, California and New 
Mexico were ceded to the United States. 

Repeated Revolutions. 

The result of the war was fatal to 
Santa Anna. He was overthrown, 
driven from the country, and was suc- 
ceeded by Herrera. A series of revolu ■ 
tions followed the war, elevating first 
one leader and then another to the presi- 
dency. On the nth of May, 1861, Be- 
nito Juarez captured the city of Mexico, 
and his authority was generally recog- 
nized throughout the republic. He was 
one of the best of the Mexican presidents, 
and inaugurated a series of useful reforms 
which rendered his administration very 
popular with the mass of the nation. 

Marriage was made a civil contract, 
perpetual monastic vows and ecclesias- 
tical courts were abolished, and the 
church property, which was estimated 
at nearly one-half the real estate of the 
country, was appropriated to the service 
of the state. A little later the union 
between church and state, which had 
existed from the time of the conquest, 
was completely severed. 

These measures, though popular with 
the people, gave great offence to the 
church party, which determined to de- 
stroy the Juarez government at any cost. 
At this juncture Spain, France and 
England, presented to the Mexican gov- , 



ernment a series of claims for losses sus- 
tained by their citizens in that country, 
and failing to obtain any satisfaction 
from the Juarez government, despatched 
a joint expedition to Mexico to enforce 
their demands. Early in December, 
1 86 1, a Spanish force under General 
Prim occupied Vera Cruz, and in Janu- 
ary, 1862, the English and French forces 
arrived. 

The Juarez government now pro- 
ceeded to settle the difficulty by nego- 
tiation, and agreed that the English 
and Spanish claims should be paid by 
turning over to them a certain propor- 
tion of the customs receipts. This ar- 
rangement being satisfactory to Eng- 
land and Spain, their forces evacuated 
Mexico in May, 1862. 

Plotting with the French. 

The church party had seen in th«, 
presence of the foreign troops in Mexico 
an opportunity for the destruction of 
the Juarez government, and now re- 
solved to put their plan in execution, 
although they knew it involved the loss 
of their country's liberties. They began 
to plot with the French, whose claim 
was the smallest, and induced the French 
emperor to attempt the erection of a 
monarchy in Mexico, which should 
make that country in actual fact a de- 
pendency of France, promising their 
active aid in overcoming the resistance 
of their countrymen. 

Accordingly the French commander 
refused to accept the arrangement which 
had proved satisfactory to England and 
Spain, and on the i6th of April, 1862, 
France declared war against Mexico. 
The French army was reinforced, and 
the advance into the interior was begun. 
Puebla was attacked, but the French 



222 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



were defeated and forced back to the 
coast. In 1863 the French army was 
strongly reinforced, and siege was laid 
to Puebla, which surrendered to General 
Forey on the 17th of May, after a gal- 
lant defence of three months. 

A number of other successes were 
won by the French, and on the loth of 
June, 1863, they entered the city of 



that Mexico should be a hereditary mon- 
archy under an emperor of the Roman 
Catholic faith. 

The crown was offered to the Austrian 
Archduke Maximilian, and was accepted 
by him. He waived all claim to the 
throne of Austria in the event of the 
death of his brother, the Emperor Fran- 
cis Joseph, and made farewell visits to 




ENTRY OF THB FRENCH INTO THE CITY OF MEXICO. 



Mexico in triumph. Juarez and his 
government withdrew to San lyuis Po- 
tosi. 

The French and the church party at 
once proceeded to cany out their scheme. 
A regency was established on the 24th 
of June, and on the 8th of July an as- 
sembly of notables was held to decide 
upon the future form of government for 
Mexico. On the loth this bodv declared 



the sovereigns of France, England and 
Belgium, and to the Pope, who gave 
him his special blessing. He sailed for 
Mexico in April, 1864, and on the 28th 
of May landed at Vera Cruz, which was 
held by the French. 

After a short delay there he proceeded 
to the capital, welcomed all along the 
route with great enthusiasm by the 
church party. He made his formal entry 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



223 



into the city of Mexico on the 12th of 
June, 1864. One of the first acts of 
Maximilian, who was childless, was to 
adopt as his heir the son of the Emperor 
Iturbide. He addressed himself with 
energy to the task of giving to Mexico 
a good government, and it is exceed- 
ingly probable that had he been able to 
establish his throne he would have done 
more for the country than any of its 
former rulers had accomplished ; but 
from the first he had to encounter the 
hostility of the republican or national 
party, and his failure to restore the se- 
questered estates of the clergy and to 
revive the old connection between 
church and state, soon lost him the sup- 
port of his only partisans ; and he was 
kept on his throne only by the presence 
of the French army. 

The imperial troops drove Juarez and 
his adherents back by degrees, and in 
September, 1865, he reached El Paso, 
on the Texan frontier. His forces 
maintained a determined resistance, and 
early in 1866 the tide began to turn in 
their favor. On the 25 th of March they 
captured Chihuahua. 

Protest by Our Government. 

In the meantime the United States, 
appreciating the designs of France, had 
strongly protested against the establish- 
ment of the Mexican empire. At length, 
the Civil War being ended, the American 
government determined to give Juarez 
material aid unless France should with- 
draw her troops and leave the Mexicans 
to settle their own affairs. The French 
government was informed of this deter- 
mination, and at last agreed to withdraw 
its army. Upon reaching this decision, 
the Emperor Napoleon sent General 
Castelnau to the city of Mexico to urge 



Maximilian to abdicate, as he could not 
possibly succeed in holding his throne 
without the aid of France. 

Maximilian refused to entertain the 
idea of abdication, and declined to see 
the French envoy. His ministers sup- 
ported him in his determination. The 
withdrawal of the French army was 
immediately begun, and the emperor 
soon found himself dependent entirely 
upon the support of a few partisans 
whose desperate fortunes were so bound 
up with his own that they could not 
afford to desert him. The last French 
detachment was withdrawn from Mexico 
on the 1 6th of March, 1867. 

Shouts for the Republic. 

The departure of the French was fol- 
lowed by a strong reaction in favor of 
the republic. The forces of Juarez were 
largely augmented, and the emperor, 
thrown upon his own resources, deemed 
it best to leave the city of Mexico, march 
northward, and offer battle to the repub- 
lican army. He reached Queratero at 
the head of 5,000 men, and was at once 
besieged in th^t place by a force of 
20,000 men under General Escobedo. 
The place was betrayed by the imperial- 
ist governor of the city, Maximilian was 
made prisoner, and shot on the 19th of 
June, 1867. 

On the 1 6th of July Juarez returned 
to the city of Mexico, and began the 
work of reconstructing the government. 
The constitution was re-established, and 
in 1 87 1 Juarez was again elected presi- 
dent. He died on the i8th of July, 
1872, and was succeeded by the Chief 
Justice, Lerdo de Tejada, who was form- 
ally elected president on the 21st of No- 
vember, 1872. He was re-elected in 
I Sy6, but was soon after overthrown by 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SoUTH AMERICA. 



224 

General Porfirio Diaz and compelled to 
fly to the United States. 

Diaz showed himself to be one of the 
ablest Mexican rulers, and was re-elected 



relations with foreign powers being 
peaceful. So strong was the popular 
feeling in favor of Diaz, and so great 
was the confidence of the nation in 'ais 




EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN SHOT BY MEXICAN TROOPS. 



in 1884, and again in 1888; and under 
him the position of the republic, with 
regard both to security and development 
of its resources, steadily improved, and 
comparative tranquillity prevailed, the 



wisdom and patriotism, that he was re- 
elected in 1892, and again in 1896. 

An insurrection that threatened to 
plunge the country into anarchy and 
rebellion broke out in 1892. General 



CANADA, MliXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



225 



Lorenzo Garcia was killed by his troops | Texas. The band was, however, dis- 
who joined the rebels under Garza in | persed and order restored. 



SOUTH AMERICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



IN I So/Napoleon declared war against 
Portugal, and sent an army into that 
country. The regent (afterwards 
Joam VI.) and the royal family and court 
atonceembarkeduponthefleetandsailed 
for Rio de Janeiro. This was a great 
gain for Brazil, and was followed by im- 
portant changes in the government; the 
ports were thrown open to all the world, 
and trade was invited from all nations. 
In 1815, upon the overthrow of Napo- 
leon, Brazil was erected into a kingdom, 
and when Joam VI. came to the throne 
in 18 16 he took the title of King of 
Portugal, Algarve and Brazil. 

He continued to reside in Brazil, and 
so offended his Portuguese subjects. In 
September, 1820, as we have related 
elsewhere, a revolution broke out in 
Portugal, and the Spanish constitution 
was proclaimed. Revolutionary distur- 
bances occurred in Para and Pernam- 
buco, and the king, fearing that the 
movement would involve the whole of 
Brazil, placed himself at the head of it, 
and on the 26th of February, 1821, pro- 
claimed the constitution of Brazil. Soon 
after this he returned to Portugal, leav- 
ing his son. Prince Pedro, as Regent of 
Brazil. He had scarcely sailed when a 
revolutionary movement broke out, in 
April, 1821. Brazil was declared an in- 
dependent empire on the 12th of Octo- 
ber, 1822, and on the ist of December, 
1822, the regent was crowned Emperor 
as Dom Pedro I. A constitution was 
adopted in 1824, and on the /tli of Sep- 
tember, 1825, Portugal acknowledged 
the independence of Brazil. 

15 



In 1 826 Joam VI. died, and Dom Pedro 
became King of Portugal . He preferred 
to retain his western empire, and re- 
signed the Portuguese crown to his in- 
fant daughter Dona Maria da Gloria. In 
the same year a war broke out between 
Brazil and the Argentine republic,which 
was seeking to absorb Uruguay. Peace 
was made through the mediation of Eng. 
land, and Montevideo or Uruguay was 
constituted an independent republic. 

On the 7th of April, 1831, Pedro I., 
who had been engaged in a long dispute 
with the chamber of deputies, ended 
the quarrel by abdicating his crown in 
favor of his son, Pedro II., the present 
emperor. As the new sovereign was 
but six years old, a council of regency 
administered the government until 1841, 
when Pedro was declared of age, and 
war. crowned on the i8th of July. 

T.'ac reign of Pedro 11. was prosper- 
ous and highly beneficial to his country. 
He prov'ed a liberal and able ruler, and 
spared no pains to advance the civiliza- 
tion and prosperity of Brazil. In 183 1 
a law placing severe restrictions upon 
the slave trade was enacted, and in 1850 
the traffic was finally abolished. In 1852 
Brazil, in alliance with Uruguay and tl/C 
forces of Entre Rios, waged a successfu. 
war against the Argentine Dictator 
Rosas, who was defeated and forced to fly 
to England. In 1895 Brazil, Uruguay 
and the Argentine republic declared war 
against Paraguay, the cause being the 
unprovoked aggressions of lyopez, the 
Dictator of Paraguay, upon the <illied 
states. 



226 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



The war was long and costly, and ended 
only with die death of Lopez, on the 
1st of March, 1871. Brazil entered into 
a separate treaty with Paraguay concern- 
ing boundaries and a war indemnity, 
without consulting her allies. This 
gave great offence to the Argentine re- 
public, and came near leading to a 
war with that country. The difficulty 
was settled in October, 1872, by an 
agreement that the Argentine republic 
should negotiate separately with Para- 
guay, as Brazil had done. In 1871 a 
law was enacted by the Brazilian 
chambers providing for the gradual 
extinction of slavery throughout the 
empire. 

Dom Pedro was deposed in November, 
1889, and took refuge in Europe. Fon- 
seca was made president of the national 
congress. Soon there were serious dis- 
agreements between him and the con- 
gress, and he attempted in 1891 to as- 
sume the dictatorship. The revolution- 



ary spirit again showed itself and in No ■ 
vember Fonseca resigned. 

Then followed a period of constant 
intrigues, ambitious schemes to rule the 
country, and a succession of revolts and 
insurrections that prevented anything 
like a stable government. On the 15th 
of November, 1894, Dr. Prudente Jose 
de Moraes assumed the office of presi- 
dent, and as one of his first political 
acts granted amnesty to those who 
had been leaders in seditious plots. 
The clemency of the government, how- 
ever, did not entirely suppress the spirit 
of revolt, 3,nd the republic continued 
in a state of turmoil and insecurity. 

Attempts were made in November, 

1897, to assassinate the president, and 
martial law was proclaimed. In March, 

1898, Dr. Campos Salles was elected 
president,, but so many factions and 
conflicting interests divided the popu- 
lace that hearty and united support of 
the government was not assured. 



HISTORY OF PERU. 



IN 1820 the South American States 
rose in rebellion against Spain, 
and proclaimed themselves inde- 
pendent. Peru was the last to 
take this step. General San Martin, 
who had freed Chili of the Spaniards, 
entered Peru at the head of an army of 
Chilians and Buenos Ayreans, seized 
the city of lyima, and drove the Span- 
iards into the interior. On the 28th of 
July, 1 82 1, Peru declared herself inde- 
pendent of Spain, and General San 
Martin was proclaimed protector of the 
republic. Becoming unpopular, he re- 
signed on the 19th of August, 1822, and 
in F'ebruary, 1824, General Bolivar was 
made dictator. 



On the 9th of Decembei, 1S24, the 
Peruvians inflicted a decisive defeat 
upon the Spaniards in the battle of 
Ayacucho, and in January, 1826, ex- 
pelled them from Callao, their last foot- 
hold in Peru. In 1825 Bolivar resigned 
the dictatorship, but before doing so, 
organized the southern and southeast- 
ern provinces into a separate republic, 
which took the name of Bolivia. 

Although independent, Peru was not 
tranquil. In 1826a revolution occurred, 
and the constitution proclaimed by 
Bolivar was destroyed, and a new one 
adopted. In 1836 President Santa Cruz, 
of Bolivia, entered Peru with an army, 
and proclaimed himself Supreme Pro 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



227 



fcector of the Bolivio-Peruvian confeder- 
ation. The union between the two States 
lasted until 1839. ^ series of deposi- 
tions and civil wars now ensued, but were 
brought to an end in 1844 by General 
Castillo, who made Menendez president. 

Castillo was elected as the successor 
of Menendez, and entered upon his 
office on the ist of April, 1845. He re- 
mained in power until 185 1, and gave 
to Peru the best government it had ever 
known. He was succeeded by General 
Echenique, who was accused of gross 
frauds in his administration. Castillo 
headed an insurrection, drove Eche- 
nique from power and once more be- 
came master of Peru. Several deter- 
mined efforts to overthrow Castillo's 
government were made, but all failed, 
and he succeeded in holding office until 
the expiration of his term. In 1855 he 
declared slavery abolished in Peru. In 
October, 1862, General San Ramon suc- 
ceeded Castillo as president, but died in 
the following April. General Pezet 
succeeded him. During Pezet's admin- 
istration the Spaniards seized the Chin- 
cha islands, and Peru declared war 
against Spain. 

Peace was made in 1865, Spain re- 
storing the islands, and Peru agreeing 
to pay a war indemnity of $3,000,000. 
This treaty was denounced by the peo- 
ple, and brought on a revolution which 
overthrew Pezet, and made General 
Prado dictator. He concluded an alli- 
ance with Chili in December, 1865, and 



in January, 1866, the two States de- 
clared war against Spain. On the 2d 
of May the Spanish fleet sustained a 
defeat at the hands of the allies, and a few 
days later withdrew from the Peruvian 
waters. On the lotli of January, 1868, 
a successful revolution compelled Prado 
to resign his office and retire to Chili. 

On the 28th of July Colonel Balto 
was proclaimed president, but was as- 
sassinated in July, 1872. Peace was 
restored in a few weeks, and on the 2d 
of August Don Manuel Pardo was al- 
most unanimously chosen president. 
He held office until the 2d of August, 
1876, and his administration was highly 
popular and successful. At length in- 
ternal dissensions arose, a sanguinary 
revolution broke out at I^ima, December 
23d, 1 88 1, and Pierolas was proclaimed 
dictator. Soon after this the Chilians 
occupied the town, vacating it October 
23d, 1883. Insurrections and civil dis- 
orders prevailed until 1885, resulting in 
the retirement of Iglesias and Caceres, 
rival presidents, through foreign inter- 
vention. Caceres was elected president 
April 23d, 1886. 

Bermudez was elected president in 
1890, and a revolutionary attempt near 
Eima to overthrow him was defeated. 
Bermudez died in March, 1894, and in 
August of the same year Caceres was 
again inaugurated president. The coun- 
try remained in an unsettled state and 
was disturbed by repeated revolts and 
uprisings, and chronic turmoil. 



HISTORY OF CHILI. 




(511 HE Spaniards organized Chili as a 
vice-royalty, and divided it into 
thirteen districts. Like all the 
Spanisli provinces, it was always mis- 



governed and the people were grossly 
oppressed. In July, 1810, the popular 
discontent broke out into revolution ; 
the Spanish Governor Carrasco was 



228 



CANADA. MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



deposed, and the government placed in 
the hands of a "junta." An outward 
loyalty to Spain was maintained, but it 
was the real design of the leaders of the 
movement to break off all connection 
with the mother country. In April, 
1 8 1 1 , the royal troops were attacked by 
the patriots and driven from Santiago. 
General Carrera was appointed by the 
"junta" supreme president of the na- 
tional congress and commander-in-chief 
of the army. In 1813 he won two vic- 
tories over the Spanish troops, but the 
latter were largely reinforced, and before 
the close of the year Chili was com- 
pelled to submit once more to the au- 
thority of Spain. 

Spanish Tyranny. 

During the next three years the ty- 
ranny of the Spanish officials was more 
odious than it had been before the out- 
break. The patriots now raised an army 
in the neighboring province of La Plata, 
and made General San Martin its com- 
uiander. He marched into Chili, and 
won an important victory over the roy- 
alist forces at Chacabuco on the 12th of 
February, 18 17. A provisional govern- 
ment was set up by the patriots, and Don 
Bernardo O'Higgins was placed at its 
head as supreme dictator. The Span- 
iards now rallied and defeated the 
Chilians with heavy loss at Chaucha- 
rayada, but were themselves utterly 
routed by the patriots at Chilenos 
on the 5th of April, 18 18. Not more 
than 500 Spaniards escaped from the 
field. 

This victory entirely destroyed the 
Spanish power in Chili, Peru and Bue- 
nos Ayres, and secured the independ- 
ence of those states. The Spaniards 
retreated to the port of Valdivia, which 



they held until 1820, when they surren- 
dered to the Chilian forces. 

The dictatorship of General O'Hig- 
gins lasted until 1823, when, having 
become unpopular, he was forced to re- 
sign his power. A provisional govern- 
ment of three succeeded him, but gave 
way in the course of a few weeks to 
General Freireas dictator. In 1828 the 
first Chilian constitution was adopted. 
It was revised in 1831-33. 

A Revolt Suppressed. 

Chili has been the most orderly of 
the South American republics, but has 
not entirely escaped revolution. The 
most serious of these outbreaks occurred 
in 185 1 ; one in April and the other in 
September. The latter was the more 
formidable of the two, but both were at 
length suppressed. The September re- 
volt was caused by the effort of General 
De la Cruz to overthrow the president 
of the republic, Don Manuel Montt. It 
cost the government a sacrifice of 4,000 
soldiers for its suppression, and greatly 
injured the prosperity of the country. 
At its close a general amnesty was pro- 
claimed to the insurgents, and President 
Montt applied himself with energy to 
the restoration of the prosperity of the 
country. 

He was re-elected in 1856. His ad- 
ministration was the ablest in the his- 
tory of the republic. It gave to the 
country a well-arranged code of laws, 
established a tribunal of commerce and 
a bank of discount and deposit at Val- 
paraiso, arranged the finances on a se- 
curer basis, and negotiated treaties of 
commerce and friendship with France, 
Sardinia, the United States and Great 
Britain. In 1862 the Araucanians gave 
great trouble to the government. Under 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



229 



the leadership of a Frenchman named 
De Tonniens, they endeavored to throw 
offtheanthority of Chili and make them- 
selves independent. They were com- 
pelled to submit. 

Coast Blockaded. 

When the war broke out between 
Peru and Spain, in 1864, Chili warmly 
sympathized with her sister republic. 
This sympathy drew upon her the hos- 
tility of Spain, and the next year the 
coast of Chili was blockaded by the 
Spanish fleet. Chili, late in 1865, de- 
clared war against Spain. On the 26tli 
of November the Chilian steamer Es- 
meralda captured the Spanish steamer 
Covadonga, with all the correspond- 
ence of the Spanish admiral on board. 
This event so mortified Admiral Pareja 
that he committed suicide. He was suc- 
ceeded by Admiral Nunez. On the 14th 
of January, 1866, Chili entered into an 
alliance with Peru, and on the 7tli of 
F'ebruary the allied fleets defeated a 
Spanish squadron. 

On the 31st of March Admiral Nunez, 
regardless of the protests of all the for- 
eign representatives at that port, bom- 
barded the city of Valparaiso, destroy- 
ing property to the amount of more 
than ten millions of dollars, and demol- 
ishing nearly all the public buildings 
and many private edifices. Not a shot 
was returned from the town. The 
greater part of the loss fell upon the 
foreign residents. In the following 
month the Spanish fleet took its depart- 
ure from the Chilian waters. The 
United States now offered their medi- 
ation between Spain and the allies, and 
on the nth of April, 1871, a treaty 
arrnngingan a^-mistice and nn indefinite 
truce was signed at 'vVasliinglon. 



In 1869 the Araucanians again en- 
deavored to throw oflf the Chilian rule, 
but in the following year were put down, 
and their country was permanently occu- 
pied by the Chilian forces. From this 
time the history of Chili was compara- 
tively uneventful until 1891, when a 
revolution occurred, resulting in a vic- 
tory for the insurgent forces. In the 
decisive battle 300 of President Balma- 
ceda's forces were defeated with heavy 
loss. An attempt was made at Valpa- 
raiso on May 7th to assassinate the lead- 
ing members of the cabinet. 

Chilian Steamer Seized. 

On the 5th of May the insurgent 
Chilian steamer Itata was seized by 
United States officers at San Diego, 
California ; she escaped, and arriving at 
Iquique, June 4th, was delivered to the 
American warships. The suicide of 
Balmaceda followed his downfall, and a 
jDrovisional Junta was formed. The 
crew of the United States steamer Bal- 
timore having met with outrageous 
treatment by the police of Valparaiso, 
our government jiromptly demanded an 
apology from Chili. The trouble was 
at length amicably settled. 

On January 3, 1892, the Chilian riot- 
ers were sentenced (some to imprison- 
ment and some to penal servitude), for 
assaulting the sailors of the Baltimore, 
and the President of Chili ajjologized to 
the United States government. In 
August, 1S94, an arbitration commis- 
sion at Washington awarded our gov- 
ernment $240,564 for claims against 
Chili. Erraguriz was elected president 
in July, 1896. In July, :897, boun- 
dary disputes wilh Argentina were 
referred to the arbitration of Queen 
Victoria. 



230 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



UNITED STATES OF COLOMBIA. 




'PANISH rule here, as else- 
where, bore very hard upon 
the people, and finally re- 
sulted in revolution. The 
first outbreak was made in 1781, and 
was suppressed. It was followed by 
another unsuccessful attempt in 1795. 
The authority of Spain was not con- 
tested again until 181 1, when the people 
rose in rebellion and drove out the 
Spanish forces. The victories of Boli- 
var established the independence of 
New Granada, and in 18 19 the state be- 
came a member of the republic of Co- 
lombia. This confederation was broken 
up by the withdrawal of Venezuela in 
1829 and Ecuador in 1830. In 183 1 
New Granada declared itself an inde- 
pendent republic, and in 1832 adopted 
a constitution. The chief executive 
power was confided to a president, who 
was to be elected for a term of four 
years. From this time until i860 the 
history of the republic was mainly 
peaceful and uneventful. 

Early in i860 a revolution broke out, 
headed by General Mosquera, the chief 
of the liberal party. President Ospina 
was overthrown, and Mosquera seized 
the government. A convention was 
held at Bogota in 1861, and a new re- 
public was organized under the name 
of the United States of Colombia ; a 
constitution was adopted, and Mosquera 
was made dictator. The civil war was 
brought to an end in December, 1862, 
by the submission of the conservative 
party to the new republic. A national 
congress then met at Rio Negro on the 
4th of February, 1863, and Mosquera 
resigned his dictatorial powers to this 
body. 



A new constitution was promulgated 
on the 8th of May, 1863, and subse- 
quently Mosquera was appointed pro- 
visional president, to hold office till 
April I, 1864, when he was to be suc- 
ceeded by a president elected by the 
people. The new constitution contained 
provisions confiscating the property of 
the church, and establishing religious 
liberty. These provisions aroused the 
hostility of the priests and their follow- 
ers, who, headed by the Archbishop o^^' 
Bogota, threw every obstacle in the wa^ 
of the government. 

These disputes led to an attempt on 
the part of Mosquera, who had again 
been chosen president in 1866, to seize 
the whole power of the government. 
He was defeated and condemned to two 
years of exile. The principles of reli- 
gious liberty and immunity from im- 
prisonment for debt remained undis- 
turbed. In 1875 an outbreak in some 
of the Atlantic states occurred, but was 
put down. In 1876 an unsuccessful 
revolution was begun by the clerical 
party, but was suppressed in the follow- 
ing year. 

In 1886 a fresh constitution wa.^ 
adopted, based on that of the United 
States, placing the central authority in 
the strengthened hands of the federal 
government. An insurrection broke out 
in 1885, the government troops were 
defeated, and peace was restored Since 
then the history of the country h^^^ been 
uneventful. 

Venezuela remained under Spanisn 
rule until the early part of the present 
century. \t warmly opposed the acces- 
sion of Joseph Bonaparte to the Span- 
ish throne; and on the 5th of July, 1811, 




SCENES IN BRITISH GUIANA AND VENEZUELA 



23] 



232 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



threw off its allegiance to Spain, and 
declared itself independent. In 1812 
the treaty of Victoria restored it to 
Spain. The Spanish fule was hateful 
to the people, and in 181 3 Venezuela 
again revolted under the leadership of 
General Simon Bolivar. A long struggle 
ensued, and in 1819 the independence 
of the country was practically secured, 
and the republic of Colombia, consist- 
ing of New Granada, Venezuela, and 
Ecuador, was established. The war 
with Spain did not close ujitil 1823, 
but the result was assured from the 
time of the formation of the republic. 
In 1 82 1 a constitution was adopted. In 
1829 Venezuela withdrew from the 
Colombian republic, and became an in- 
dependent state. In 1830 Ecuador be- 
came a separate republic. The dissolu- 
tion of the old confederation was peace- 
ful and amicable. For the next fifteen 
years the history of Venezuela is peace- 
ful and uneventful. In 1846 General 
Monagas became president. A period 
of constant civil war now set in, and 
lasted until June, 1863, when the acces- 
sion of General Falcon to the presi- 
dency restored tranquillity to the coun- 
try. Several years of peace followed, 
and then a new revolution oroke out 
and resulted in the establishment of a 
provisional government under Guzman 
Blanco, in April, 1869. The next year 
he convened a congress at Valencia, 
and compelled that body to appoint 



him provisional president of the repub- 
lic, with extraordinary powers. In 
February, 1873, he was elected by the 
people for a term of four years. 

There has never been any agreement 
between Great Britain and Venezuela 
as to the boundary line between the lat- 
ter country and British Guiana. The 
Venezuclau Government represented to 
ours at Washington tha.*; Ores "Britain 
was disposed to make encroacliments 
and claim territory" dat did not by right 
belong to her. 

In December, 1895, President Cleve- 
land sent a strong message to Congress 
on this subject, in which he took occa- 
sion to assert in very plain terms the 
Monroe Doctrine. The message was 
received with great favor, and a com- 
mission of investigation was appointed 
by Congress. For a time there was 
loud talk of war between Great Britain 
and the United States, but wiser coun- 
sels prevailed, and Great Britain fur- 
nished the commission with all the in- 
formation in its possession, which could 
be of service in reaching a just and 
equitable conclusion. 

In 1899 a commission to determine 
the boundary line between Venezuela 
and British Guiana assembled in Paris. 
Ex-President Harrison was counsel for 
the Republic of Venezuela, and the com- 
mission reached an agreement which 
was recommended to the two govern- 
ments. 



BRITISH GUIANA. 

"CfxCEPT for two short periods the 

£^ settlements composing Britis!i 

" Guiana were held by the 

Dutch down to 1803, when they were 

taken possession of by the English. 



One of them, Berbice, was at first ad- 
ministered as a distinct colony, but in 
1 83 1 it was incorporated with the rest 
of British Guiana. 

During slave-holding time sugar- 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



233 



planting brought some degree of pros- 
perity to these colonies; but their pro- 
ductiveness in this respect was very 
sensibly crippled by the abolition of 
slavery, which deprived them of thdr 
supplies of the requisite kind of labor 
for the plantations. Since that event 
coffee and cotton have almost entirely 
ceased to be grown; and the cultiva- 
tion o,** beet-root for sugar caused a 



very serious crisis in Guiana cane- 
planting. 

British and Dutch Guiana, however, 
still shows signs of vitality. The cane- 
sugar industry, if not reviving, is at least 
not retrograding, whilst gold-mining is 
a decidedly progressive industry. Ex- 
cept for gold-mining, which, however, 
remains stationary, French Guiana is 
in a hopelessly deplorable condition. 



HISTORY OF BOLIVIA. 




FTBR the revolution of 1820 it 
became independent of Spain. 
In 1825 it was erected into 
an independent republic by General 
Simon Bolivar, and was named Bolivia 
in honor of him. A national conven- 
tion was assembled, and General Boli- 
var was requested to prepare a constitu- 
tion. General Sucre was chosen pres- 
ident, and continued in office until 
1828, when he was overthrown and ex- 
pelled from Bolivia by General Gamarra. 
Shortly after this he was assassinated. 
Sucre was succeeded by General Blanco, 
who, a few months later, was over- 
thrown and slain in a revolution hea led 
by General Balibian. 

In 1829 Mariscal Santa Cruz was 
elected president. He held office until 
February, 1839. In 1836 he became 
the head of the state in Peru, styling 
himself the Supreme Protector of the 
Bolivio-Peruvian confederation. This 
union between the two states was broken 
in 1839 by the overthrow of Santa Cruz 
by a new revolution. A period of con- 
fusion and civil war followed in Bolivia. 

In 1858 Dr. Linares became president, 
and ruled with dictatorial power. He 
was overthrown in 1861, and Acha was 
named provisional president. In De- 



cember, 1864, General Melgarejo headed 
a new revolution, and in February, 1865, 
defeated the government forces and 
became president. General Belzu at- 
tempted to overturn him, but was de- 
feated and killed. Another revolt was 
put down in January, 1866. 

In that year Bolivia joined the alli- 
ance of Peru, Ecuador and Chili against 
Spain. In March, 1867, a large district 
in the northern part of the republic was 
added to Brazil. In December a formi- 
dable revolution, having for its object 
the restoration of Acha to the presi- 
dency, broke out. It was out down 
early in 1868. In February, 1869, Mel- 
garejo, with the unanimous consent of 
the national congress, declared himself 
dictator. In May he restored the con- 
stitution, but continued to exercise his 
dictatorial powers. In October a new 
revolution broke out under the leader- 
ship of A. Morales. The outbreak was 
put down, but was renewed in July, 
1870, only to be stamped out again. In 
1 87 1 a successful revolution drove Mel- 
garejo out of the countr>-, and Morales 
became president, for one year. In No- 
vember Melgarejo was assassinated in 
Lima, by his son-in-law. 

Morales survived him a little more 



234 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



than a year, and was murdered by his 
son-in-law on the 27th of November, 
1872. In May, 1873, Don Adolfo Bal- 
livian became president of the republic. 
Ill health soon compelled him to with- 
draw from public life, and Dr. Tomas 
Frias was appointed to succeed him, in 
February, 1874. On the 14th of the 
same month General Ballivian died. 
His death was followed by a series of 
revolutionary disturbances, which were 
not finally crushed until April, 1875. 

Bolivia is naturally one of the richest 
countries of South America, but its 
great mountain chains cut it off from 
all communication with the sea or the 
rest of the continent on the western 
side, except by the tedious and expen- 
sive process of mule transport across 
the mountains. On the eastern side 
this obstacle to the progress of the re- 
public does not exist. The Madeira 
river drains a large portion of the re- 
public, receives the waters of the greater 
number of its streams, and finally empties 
into the Amazon. For about 1 50 miles it 
is obstructed by rapids. Below the rapids 



it is navigable to the Amazon, whicl 
river gives ready access to the sea. 

In 1872 it was resolved to build a 
railway around these rapids, and to 
bring Bolivia into direct communica- 
tion with the rest of the world. In 
1876 Bolivia joined Peru in a war 
against Chili. In 1879 Bolivia was 
swept by a revolution ; Diaz, at that 
time president, was deposed and com- 
pelled to flee, and Campero was elected 
to be his successor. Peace was estab- 
lished with Chili, and the conditions 
were finally settled in December, 1883. 
In August, 1888, Aniceto Arce, presi- 
dent, suppressed a revolution and re- 
stored peace. 

In 1892 an insurrection by General 
Camacho was suppressed and Baptista 
was declared president. An ultimatum 
was addressed to Peru demanding satis- 
faction within twenty-four hours for in- 
vasion of territory. The Bolivian Min- 
ister was recalled, and finally the dis- 
pute was referred to arbitration. On 
the 20th of August, 1896, Alonso as- 
sumed the presidency. 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



IN 1776 the viceroyalty of Buenos 
Ayres was created. It embraced 
the countries now known as the 
Argentine republic, Bolivia, Uru- 
guay, and Paraguay. In 1806, Spain 
being at war with Great Britain, a small 
British force captured Buenos Ayres 
and Montevideo, but was soon driven 
out by the inhabitants. Another effort 
was made by a stronger British force to 
capture Buenos Ayres in 1807, but was 
repulsed. 

In 1 8 10 Buenos Ayres threw off the 
Spanish yoke, and proclaimed its inde- 



pendence. The war was decided m 
1 812 by the surrender of the Spanish 
forces at Montevideo. In January, 181 3, 
a " sovereign assembly " was convened 
at Tucuman, then the capital of Buenos 
Ayres, and the administration of the 
government was confided to it. The 
independence of the republic being 
established, an army was sent into 
Chili, under General San Martin, and 
aided the Chilians in driving the Span- 
iards from that province. Peru next 
assisted, and the independence of that 
country was secured in 1821. 



CANADA, MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



23& 



In 1816 the new republic took the 
name of "The United Provinces of La 
Plata," and in 1817 General Puyerredon 
was made supreme dictator. Somewhat 
later the city of Buenos Ayres was 
made the capital of the republic. In 
1820 the dictatorship was abolished, 
and a democratic form of government 
was instituted, with General Rodigruez 
at its head. 

Peace was made with Brazil in 1828, 
through the mediation of England, and 
the independence of the republic of 
Uruguay was recognized by La Plata. 
In 1 83 1 the Argentine re^^ublic was 
formed by the confederation of the prov- 
inces of Buenos Ayres, Corrientes, En- 
tre-Rios, and Santa Fe. A little later 
some of the other provinces joined the 
union. This was followed by efforts of 
some of the leading officers of the army 
to overthrow the republic and seize the 
supreme power. 

Made Dictator. 

This unsettled state of affairs con- 
tinued until 1835, when Rosas, who 
had been chosen president in 1833, was 
made dictator. He held office until 
1 85 2, and during this period governed the 
republic with firmness and sternness. He 
made repeated efforts to force Paraguay 
and Uruguay to join the Argentine con- 
federation. These efforts involved him 
in a quarrel with Brazil, which was also 
seeking to get possession of Uruguay. 

In September, 1852, a levolution 
Droke out in the province of Buenos 
Ayres, which withdrew from the con- 
federation and established a government 
of its own. This act led to repeated 
quarrels and conflicts between the Ar- 
gentine confederation and Buenos Ayres. 
On the 17th of December, 1871, the 



Argentine troops were defeated by the 
forces of Buenos Ayres under General 
Mitre. The Argentine confederation 
was now remodeled, with Buenos Ayres 
as the leading state. The city of Buenos 
Ayres was made the capital of the re- 
public, a constitution was adopted, and 
General Mitre was chosen president. 
In 1865 the Argentine republic de- 
clared war against Paraguay, and en- 
tered into an offensive and defensive alli- 
ance with Brazil and Uruguay. The 
struggle resulted in the utter over- 
throw of Paraguay, the aggressions of 
which state provoked the war in the 
year 1870. 

Numerous Outbreaks. 

The alliance of the Argentine con- 
federation with Brazil and Uruguay 
gave great offence to certain parties in 
the republic, and led to several out- 
breaks. These were suppressed. The 
peace of 1870 was followed by a formi- 
dable rebellion in Entre-Rios, which 
lasted a year, and was put down only 
at the cost of an immense number of 
lives. The revolt was renewed in 1873, 
but was suppressed in the course of a 
few months. 

In 1874 the contest over the presi- 
dential election plunged the country 
into a new civil war, which lasted 
several months and caused much suffer- 
ing. It was settled by the acknow- 
ledgment of the president elected by 
the people. On June 13th, 1886, Juarez 
Celman was elected president. Since 
then the great material progress of the 
country has been accompanied by an 
equally remarkable movement in favor 
of stability of government. The policy 
of the government toward agricultural 
immigrants is highly liberal. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Asia and Africa in the Nineteenth Century. 



T^^HINA and Japan have occupied 
I V^ a large share of public attention 

^ ^^ ^ during the century, and both 
have undergone important 
changes. This is all the more remark- 
able from the fact that they have re- 
mained in a stereotyped state for ages, 
and gave no signs of progress until 
within a comparatively recent period. 

Towards the end of the seventeenth 
century the Chinese government, while 
refusing to Great Britain, as a Euro- 
pean power, permission to trade with 
the empire, granted that privilege to 
the British Bast India Company. This 
company conducted the trade with 
China until 1834, when its charter ex- 
pired. The British government then 
sent Lord Napier to superintend the 
trade with China, but he was refused 
permission to communicate with the 
imperial viceroy at Canton on terms of 
equality. He endeavored to force his 
way to Canton with two frigates, but 
after a spirited engagement with the 
forts at the Bogue, September nth, 
1834, withdrew to Macao, where he 
died about a month later. After this the 
trade between the British merchants 
and the Chinese was carried on for 
several years without the superintend- 
ence of the British officials. One of the 
principal articles of this traffic was 
opium, of which large quantities were 
sold yearly in China by British mer- 
chants. 

The imperial government at first tol- 
erated this trade, but, at length, becom- 
ing alarmed by the fearful evils which 
the use of opium was fastening upon the 
236 



people of China, endeavored to put %, 
stop to it. In the autumn of 1837 Cap- 
tain Elliot, the English representative 
at Canton, was ordered by an imperial 
decree to send away the opium ships 
and discontinue the trade in that article. 
This command was disregarded and the 
trade went on. In the early part of 
1839 the imperial Viceroy Lin, acting 
under the orders of his government, 
seized and destroyed all the opium on 
hand at Canton, to the value of |io,- 
000,000. An illicit trade in opium at 
once sprang up, and was resented by 
the Chinese Government, which de- 
clared all commercial relations with 
Great Britain at an end. 

Famous Opium War. 

This led to the opium war, which is 
the most prominent event of the century 
in the history of China. The result was 
that China was forced to surrender her 
exclusiveness, and enter into more inti- 
mate commercial relations with Europe. 
The war was brought to an end by the 
treaty of Nankin, in August, 1842. The 
island of Hong Kong was ceded to the 
British, and the ports of Canton, Amoy, 
Foochoo, Ningpo and Shanghai were 
thrown open to the trade of the world, 
and made the official residences of Eu- 
ropean consuls. China was also com- 
pelled to pay to Great Britain an indem- 
nity of $21,000,000. In 1842 Caleb 
Cushing, who had been sent out by the 
United States to China, arrived in that 
country and readily negotiated a com- 
mercial treaty between the two coun- 
tries, July 3, 1844. This was followed 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



237 



by a treaty with France, signed October 
23, 1844. 

The Chinese government never meant 
to observe these treaties in good faith, 
and its treatment of the foreigners with- 
in its dominions was at all times marked 
by deceit and an ill-concealed hostility. 
This feeling led to constant disputes be- 



France had experienced similar 
wrongs at the hands of the Chinese, and 
made common cause with England. The 
two powers now resolved to force China 
to a settlement, and in 1S57 sent a joint 
expedition to that country. Canton was 
bombarded by the Anglo- French fleet 
on the 28th of December, and the next 




VIEW OF VICTORIA— HONG KONG. 



tween the imperial authorities and the 
foreign consuls and merchants. In Oc- 
tober, 1856, matters were brought to a 
crisis by the seizure of the Arrow, a 
British vessel built in China, by the 
Chinese officials. This act led to a de- 
sultory war between China and Great 
Britain, which lasted several years, and 
in which the Chinese were. PS a ru^e, 
the winners. 



day was occupied by the English and 
French land forces, which numbered 
less than 6,000 men. The viceroy Yeh 
was captured, but the Chinese Govern- 
ment endeavored to offset this reverse by 
degrading Yeh and appointing his suc- 
cessor. Russia and the United States now 
joined England and France in endea- 
voring to force China to negotiate more 
liberal treaties with the western powers. 



238 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



The action of the Chinese Govern- 
ment was unsatisfactory, and the allied 
forces attacked and captured the forts 
at the mouth of the Pei-ho, and pushed 
on to Tien-tsin, fifty miles above the 
mouth of the river. The Chinese Gov- 
ernment now yielded, and entered into 
treaties with Great Britain, France, 
Russia and the United States, which 
stipulated for the residence of foreign 
ministers at Pekin, for the opening of 
several ports in addition to those named 
in the treaty of Nankin, for travel and 
trade under certain conditions in the 
whole empire, for the free navigation of 
the Yangste-kiang river, and the settle- 
ment of the transit-dues question. Great 
Britain was paid an indemnity of five 
and-a-half million dollars, and France 
a smaller sum. 

British Navy Defeated. 

China endeavored as usual to evade 
this treaty, and the imperial authori- 
ties exerted themselves by prescribing 
a most unusual route for them, and im- 
posing various and vexatious delays 
upon them, to prevent the foreign min- 
isters from reaching Pekin. The Bri- 
tish minister thereupon ordered Ad- 
miral Hope to force the passage of the 
Pei-ho. That officer attempted to ex- 
ecute his orders, but was driven back 
with great loss by the forts at the mouth 
of the river. The British and French 
ministers then withdrew to Shanghai 
to await the instructions of their re- 
spective governments. The American 
minister, Mr. Ward, concluded to ac- 
cept the Chinese programme, and sub- 
mitting to many inconveniences and 
indignities, at length reached Pekin. 
He was denied an interview with the 
emperor, except upon conditions de- 



grading to himself and his country, 
and returned in disgust to Shanghai, 
where he joined his European col- 
leagues. 

England and France resented the bad 
faith of China by renewing the war 
with that country. A joint expedition 
was sent against the Chinese capital. 
The Pei-torts were taken August 21st, 
i860, and Tien-tsin was occupied Au- 
gust 24th. The Chinese officials endea- 
vored to stay the progress of the allies by 
negotiation, but their design being un- 
derstood, the Anglo-French forces 
pushed on, and on the 6th of October 
arrived before Pekin. The operations 
against the city were conducted with 
vigor; the emperor's "summer palace," 
a magnificent structure, was plundered 
and burned, and on the 13th of October 
one of the gates of the city was surren- 
dered to the allies. 

The imperial government was now 
forced to yield, and the treaties with 
France and England were renewed and 
ratified. The allies then withdrew to 
the coast. Since that time the policy 
of China has been to keep faith with 
the western powers. 

Great Rebellion. 

During all this time China had been 
torn by a rebellion of unusual magni- 
ture. This was the Taiping rebellion, 
which broke out in the southern pro- 
vinces of the empire in 1850. At first 
the rebels were successful, and overran 
a large part of southern China. The 
war lasted until 1 864, when the last body 
of rebels was dispersed and the impe-> 
rial authority restored. In 1857 the 
Mohammedans of Yunnan rose in rebel- 
lion, and were for a time victorious. This 
revolt extended over a period of fifteen 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THK NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



235 



years, but was suppressed in 1872. A 
second Mohammedan rebellion broke 
out in the north-western part of the em- 
pire in 1862. It was suppressed in 1873. 
In 1 87 1 China became involved in a 
quarrel with Russia, and was obliged to 
cede to that power the district of Kulja 
and the whole of the basin of the Hi, a 



the various European powers and to the 
United States. At its head was Anson 
Burlingame, formerly minister from the 
United States to China. "It had its 
origin in the desire of the government 
to demonstrp.te to western powers its 
friendliness, and to forestall demands of 
an extreme character which it antici- 




INTERIOR OF A CHINESE TEMPLE, SHOWING THEIR IDOLS, 



region embracing an area of about 600,- 
000 square miles, and containing a pop- 
ulation of 2,000,000 people." In 1861 
the Emperor Hieng-fun. who had suc- 
ceeded the Emperor Tau-Kwang, in 
1856, died, and his son T'oung-che came 
to the throne. He was but five years 
old at the time. In 1873 he was declared 
of age and assumed the government. 

In the autumn of 1867 an embassy 
was sent by the Chinese government to 



pated would be made during the revision 
of the treaties of 1858 then about to 
take place. Its chief seized the oppor- 
tunity to place before the world the in- 
dications of a marked change of policy 
on the part of the government, an4 to 
demonstrate that the old system of re- 
course to local authorities for the redress 
of grievances should be abandoned in 
favor of representatioM to the imperial 
authorities at Pekin. The facts of his 



240 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE NINEJTKENTH CENTURY. 



(Burlingame's) appointment to repre- 
sent China, and of his being accredited 
to western states on terms of equality, 
afforded an indication of the marvelous 
change which had ensued since the war, 
and a more complete justification of the 
wisdom of the allies in insisting upon 
residence at the capital." 

Cold-Blooded Massacre. 

In 1870 the Chinese attacked the 
French consulate at Tien-tsin and mas- 
sacred the consul, vice-consul, the inter- 
preter of the French legation at Pekin 
and his wife, a Catholic priest, nine sis- 
ters of charity, and some others. The 
Frence consulate, the cathedral and 
the missionary hospital were destroyed. 
The outbreak was severely punished 
by the Chinese government, and an 
apology was made to France. 

In 1875 the Emperor Kwang-liu, the 
leignihg sovereign (1878), succeeded to 
the throne. On the 30th of June, 1876, 
the first line of railway in China, from 
Shanghai to Woosung, a distance of 
eleven miles, was opened. It was built 
by an English company. 

Several outbreaks occurred during 
1 89 1, and riotous demonstrations against 
missionaries and mission stations aroused 
the indignation of Christian nations. 
A combined protest against these perse- 
cutions were made to the Chinese gov- 
ernment by the ministers of foreign 
countries resident in China. Thereupon 
the government greatly increased the 
severitiy of its measures against crimi- 
nals who had been abusing foreigners, 
and determined to use all its power for 
the protection of the foreign residents 
of the empire. This had the inten/"ed 
effect. 

In 1 894 war broke out between China 



and Japan. Japan claimed the right to 
protect her subjects in Corea. Corea, 
although an independent kingdom hav- 
ing its own emperor, was to all intents 
and purposes a part of China, and all 
attempts on the part of Japan to extend 
her influence in Corea were strenuously 
resisted. 

On the 30th of June, 1894, the King 
of Corea renounced all subjection to 
China, and called on the Japanese for 
help. The demands of Japan, for ex- 
tensive reforms, and for the observance 
of a treaty made in 1885, were opposed 
by China, and hostilities immediately 
began. A British despatch boat, con- 
veying Chinese troops, was attacked by 
Japanese warships, sunk off Asan, and 
many were killed. In July, the Japan- 
ese, under Gen. Oshima, gained impor- 
tant victories. In August, the Chinese 
made a formal declaration of war. 

Great Battle of Yalu. 

In September, the Chinese Emperor 
transmitted a circular to the great 
powers justifying the position of China 
in the pending struggle. A great naval 
battle at the mouth of Yalu river on 
September 17th resulted in terrible 
slaughter, and the destruction of eight 
Chinese vessels. This was the turning 
point of the conflict, and Japanese suc- 
cesses followed in quick succession both 
on land and sea. In short, the wonderful 
vigor and military prowess of Japan sur- 
prised the world, and, in the contest with 
China, she was completely successful. 

On the 17th of April, 1895, a peace 
treaty was signed, which assured the in- 
dependence of Corea, the retention by 
Japan of conquered places, and a heavy 
indemnity for the expenses of the war. 
But later, the ministers of Russia, Ger- 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURV. 



241 



many and France protested against tne 
annexation of Chinese territory to the 
Japanese Empire, and Japan was cheated 
out of a large part of what her victories 
liad gained. 

Since this war with Japan the pro- 



gress of events in China has been com- 
paratively uneventful, the latest inter- 
national transs^ctions being concessions 
made to Russia and Great Britain, both 
of which powers' are anxious to extend 
their dominions in the East. 



JAPAN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



l^fOR ages Japan maintained a policy 
P of utter seclusion from the rest of 
the world, and the vessels of for- 
eign nations were not allowed to enter 
ner ports. It is marvelous that an em- 
pire, so long isolated and dead to both 
hemispheres, should have been so com- 
pletely transformed, showing as great 
eagerness to gain the front ranks of civ- 
ilized and enlightened nations, as before 
sl:e exhibited in secluding herself from 
their touch and influence. 

Towards the middle of the nineteenth 
century European and American ves- 
sels began to frequent the Japanese 
waters, and after the settlement of Cali- 
fornia American whalers pursued their 
trade regularly in the home waters of 
the empire. Many of these were wrecked 
on the coast of Japan, and their crews 
were treated with great harshness by 
the native authorities. In order to put I 
a stop to this, and to establisli friendly 
relations with the empire, the United 
States government, in 1852, despatched 
an expedition under the command of 
Commodore Mattliew C. Perry. 

The American commander was in 
structed to demand protection for Amer- 
ican seamen wrecked on the Japanese 
coast, and to effect a treaty of commerce 
and good will with the imperial gov- 
ernment In July, 1853, he entered the 
bay of \ edo with four ships of war, and 
delivered to the Japanese authorities a 

16 



letter from the President of the United 
States, setting forth the demands and 
wishes of his government. He then 
sailed for China. In February, 1854, 
he returned -wdth seven ships of war, 
and anchored within a few miles of 
Yedo. He managed by his skillful and 
judicious efforts to induce the shogun, 
in other word? the military governor of 
the Eastern provinces, sometimes styled 
tycoon, to enter into the desired treaty^ 
which was signed at Kauagawa on the 
31st of March, 1854, and which opened 
the ports of vShimoda and Plakodate or 
Hokodadi to foreign commerce, and 
made them ploces of consular residence. 

In September a British squadron, un- 
der Sir James Stirling, entered the har- 
bor of Nagasaki and concluded a treaty 
with the shogun, by which Hakodate 
and Nagasaki were thrown open to for- 
eign commerce. The Russians and 
Dutch then made similar treaties with 
the shogun. On the 17th of June, 1857, 
Mr. Harris, the United States consul to 
Japan, made a still more advantageous 
treaty with the shogun, by which the 
harbor of Nagasaki was also opened to 
American commerce. 

In 1858, in spite of the opposition of 
the Japanese, Mr. Harris proceeded to 
Yedo, and concluded a third treaty still 
more advantageous to the United States. 
During the same year Ivord Elgin, es- 
corted by a British squadron, reached 



242 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Yedo and negotiated a treaty between 
Great Britain and Ja])an, by which it 
was agreed that the pcrts of Hakodate, 
Kanagawa and Nagasaki, should be 
opened to British subjects after July i, 
1859. ^^^ arrival of Commodore Perry 



the mikado as the spiritual ruler of th( 
empire who did not concern himsell 
with its temporal affairs. The shogun 
on his part encouraged this belief, and 
signed the treaties without referring 
them to the mikado or asking his con- 




INTERIOR OF A JAPANESE THEATRE. 

was the beginning of the intercourse of 
Japan with the nations of America and 
Europe, an intercourse which has en- 
tirely changed the destiny of the em- 
pire. 

All the foreigners made ',xie mistake 
of regarding the shogun as the rightful 
Emperor of Japan. They looked upon 



sent to their signature. Ihis act wa? 
looked upon by the Japanese as a fresh 
usurpation of power on the part of the 
shogun, and aroused a strong reaction 
in favor of the mikado. The nation 
was opposed to the violation by the sho 
gun of the traditional policy of non 
intercourse with foreigners, and the 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE) NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



243 



country resounded with the cry, " Honor 
the mikado and expel the barbarian." 
The shogun was regarded as a traitor, 
and the cause of the mikado was greatly 
strengthened. 

In 1858 the shogun died, and the 
prime minister li, a man of great ability 
and unscrupulous character, became re- 
gent. He set aside the true successor, 
and bestowed the shogunate upon the 
infant Prince of Kii, but kept the power 
in his own hands. This arbitrary act 
aroused a strong opposition to him, 
which he suppressed by imprisoning and 
executing the leaders of the movement. 
In 1859 1^^ despatched an embassy to 
the United States without consulting 
the mikado, and so increased the hatred 
of the people for him. On the 23d oi 
March, 1 860, he was assassinated in open 
daylight in the streets of Yedo. 

Firing on Ships. 

The party of the mikado now grew with 
wonderful rapidity, and the shogun' s 
followers, seeing the steady drift of 
popular sentiment, sought to regain 
their lost ground by trying" to ■oersnade 
the foreigners to close the ports and leave 
Japan, but without success. About this 
time the forces of the Prince of Choshin 
(Nogato), acting under orders of the 
mikado, fired upon the ships of the 
United States, France, Great Britain 
and the Netherlands. This act was pun- 
ished by the treaty powers shortly after, 
by sending a combined squadron to Shi- 
monosek, and capturing that port after 
a severe bombardment. Japan was com- 
pelled to pay an indemnity of ^3,000,- 
000. This victory opened the eyes of 
the Japanese to the power of the for- 
eigners, and made them more cautious 
in their conduct towards them. 



Though the Prince of Choshin had 
obeyed the mikado in firing upon the 
foreign vessels, he had disobeyed the 
shogun, and the latter, in 1866, marched 
to punish him for his disobedience. 
The forces of the shogun were armed 
and disciplined in the old Japanese 
style ; those of the Prince of Choshin 
were armed with European rifles and 
artillery, and had been disciplined by 
Dutch officers. A campaign of three 
months ensued, and resulted in the 
overwhelming defeat of the shogun, 
who, worn out with mortification at his 
failure, and with disease, died on the 
19th of September, 1866. He was suc- 
ceeded by Keiki, the last of the shoguns. 

The mikado's party now proceeded 
to bolder acts, and in October, 1867, 
urged the mikado to abolish the sho- 
gunate and resume the government of 
the empire. This proposal received so 
much support among the most power- 
ful princes and nobles of Japan, that on 
the 9th of November, 1867, Keiki re- 
signed the shogunate. 

Radical Changes. 

This was a great gain, but it was not 
all the mikado's party desired. They 
determined to go further and restore 
the government to the basis on which 
it had existed prior to a. d. 1200. On 
the 3d of January, 1868, they seized the 
palace, drove out the nobles, and created 
a government under which the highest 
offices were filled by the kuge^ or court 
nobles of the imperial family, those of 
the next order by the daimios or cour. 
tiers, and those of the third order by 
men selected from the samurai. This 
arrangement threw the whole power of 
the state into the hands of the Satsump 
Choshin, Tosa, and Hizen clans. 



244 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THK NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



The ex-shogun was greatly displeased 
with this arrangement, and took up 
arms to regain his lost power. He was 
defeated in a three days' battle, and fled 
to Yedo in an American steamer. See- 
ing that further resistance was hopeless, 
he surrendered to the imperial forces, 
declared his resolution never again to 
oppose the will of the mikado, and re- 
tired to private life. This submission 
completely re-established the authority 
of the mikado throughout the empire, 
and gave peace to the country. 

Adopting New Ideas. 

Up to this time the party of the mi- 
kado had been the bitterest opponents 
of the treaties negotiated by the shogim 
with the foreign powers. There were 
a few among them who had profoundly 
studied the question, and liad seen the 
folly of their country in holding i.tself 
aloof from the rest of the world. These 
now set to work to promote the inter- 
course of Japan with the treaty powers, 
and found this no difficult task, as the 
leaders of the imperial party had by 
this time become convinced of the im- 
mense superiority of the foreign over 
the native systeui of war. They also 
feared that the foreign powers would 
compel the empire by force to observe 
the treaties made with the shogun, and 
knew that Japan was :n no condition to 
offer a successful resistance. 

They accordingly invited the repre- 
sentatives of the foreign powers to a 
'conference at Kioto. Many of the court 
nobles had never seen a foreigner, and 
upon beholding them at the conference 
at once abandoned the prejudices they 
had cherished againstthem. Thetreaties 
were cordially renewed, the foreign 
powers recognized the mikado as the 



only rightful sovereign of Japan, and 
the foundations were laid upon which 
have been built up the. intimate and 
cordial relations which now exist be- 
tween Japan and the states of Europe 
and America. Foreign ideas and cus- 
toms from this time made their way 
steadily into the empire, and were rap- 
idly adopted by the Japanese. Since 
1868 the character of Japanese civiliza- 
tion has undergone a profound change. 
The government, the army and navy, 
and the finances are administered upon 
a European basis; the European dress 
is driving out the old native costume ; 
and large numbers of young men des- 
tined for the public service are sent to 
the schools of Europe and the United 
States to be trained in the learning and 
civilization of the western world. In 
all these measures the young Emperor 
Mutsuhito (the reigning mikado), who 
came to the throne in 1867, has taken 
an active part, and has constantly en- 
deavored to promote the civili-zation of 
his country and to render more inti- 
mate its intercourse with the v -^stern 
nations. 

Feudal System Destroyed. 

The changes which took place in the 
internal government of the empire after 
the revolution of 1868 were very rapid. 
In 1 87 1 the emporer abolished the titles 
of kiige and daimio (court and territorial 
noble), and replaced them by that of 
kuazokit (noble families). This decree 
deprived the great nobles of their terri- 
torial fiefs, which were reclaimed by the 
crown, and at one blow destroyed the 
feudal system of Japan. In the same 
year, in order to place himself more di- 
rectly at the head of the new state of 
affairs, the emperor removed his capital 





BARTHOLDI ^TKTUE OF LIBERTY 

ERFTTFO ON BEDLOE'S ISLAND, NEW YORK HARBOR. HEIGHT FROM GROUND, 220 FEET; STONE 
PEDESTAL 82 FEET HIGH ; FOREFINGER 8 FEET LONG ; HEAD 14 FEET 
HIGH AND 40 PERSONS CAN STAND IN IT 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



245 



from the old sacred city of Kioto to the 
great city of Yedo, the name of which 
was changed to Tokio (western capital). 
The government granted to the deposed 
daimios one-tenth of their former in- 
comes on condition of residing perma- 
nently at Tokio. In December, 1871, 
an embassy was sent to the nations of 
Europe and America. Each was visited 
in succession, and new treaties of com- 
merce and friendship were negotiated. 

lu 1876 the empire took part in the 
International Centennial Exhibition, 
held at Philadelphia, in the limited 
States, and gave unmistakable evidence 
in its superb display of its success in 
the new career upon which it has en- 
tered. 

The completion of the translation of 
the Bible into Japanese was celebrated 
February 3, 1888. On February 11, 



1889, a new constitution for the empire 
was promulgated by the Mikado at 
Tokio. Houses of lords and commons 
were established, and religious liberty 
and general freedom were granted to all 
persons, one of the many evidences of 
the enlightened policy which of late has 
distinguished the government of the 
country. New commercial treaties were 
desired with the European powers, who 
hesitated to grant the request ; one with 
the United States was promptly signed. 
No Oriental realm has made more rapid 
strides in the last quarter of a century 
than Japan. 

The most important events in Japan 
during the century were connected 
with her war against China in 1894, a 
full account of which appears in the 
history of that empire and need not be 
repeated here. * 



REPUBLICS IN 50LTH AFRICA. 




NE of the earliest settlements in 
South Africa was that of the 
Dutch at the Cape of Good 
Hope. In 1806 Great Britain 
acquired their domain, following which 
the Dutch emigrated in large numbers, 
moving north and east. They acquired 
by force of arms from the Zulus the 
country known as Natal, where they 
settled. The number of the Boer-^^, as 
they were called, who left the British 
colonies was about 10,000. They or- 
ganized a government, and 'n 1854 the 
British guaranteed them c jnij^lete in- 
dependence. 

The Boers also established a republic 
known as the Transvaal, the independ- 
ence of which was acknowledged in 
1852. Here they have remained until 
the present time. They have had the 



name of being very exclusive and re- 
fusing rights to foreigners who wished 
to enter their country. In 1887 the 
British attempted to take the country, 
and for a while occupied it. In 1880 
the Transvaal Boers threw off the Bri- 
tish yoke and re-established the repub- 
lic, after a conflict with the British, in 
which the latter were defeated with 
great loss. 

Early in 1896, a British company, with 
possessions bordering on the Transvaal, 
attempted to conquer the Boers. In this 
attempt they were led by Dr. Jameson, 
but his forces were signally defeated. 
This disaster caused excitement through- 
out Eugland, especially as Germany ex- 
pressed its sympathy with the Boers. 

The state has immense latent wealth 
in its minerals, for, in addition to the 



\ 



246 



ASIA AND AFRICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



numerous gold-fields, the deposits of sil- 
ver, copper, and lead, iron, coal, cobalt, 
and other metals and minerals, are suf- 
ficent to show that nature has favored 
the Transvaal beyond all African states. 
The country is rich in corn and pasture 
land. The climate is, as a rule, healthy, 
and in some parts exceptionally bracing. 
The number of English-speaking resi- 
dents is fast increasing on account of 
immigration. 

In October, 1899, war broke out be- 
tween the Transvaal and Great Britain, 
the latter nation claiming that rights 
guaranteed by treaty to the subjects of 
other nations had been denied, and 
foreigners were the victims of high- 
handed oppression. Several bloody bat- 
tles were fought between the Boers and 
the English troops. 

Republic of Liberia. 

Liberia is a small republican state of 
West Africa, and occupies a part of 
the coast of North Guinea. Length, 
600 miles ; breadth interiorward, 50 
miles. Monrovia is its capital, at the 
mouth of St. Paul's River. The prin- 
cipal exports are coffee, sugar, palm-oil. 



camphor, indigo, ivory, and gold-dust. 
The first settlement was formed by free 
negro colonists from the United States, 
at Cape Mesurado, in 1820. The colony 
became an independent republic in 1847. 
The constitution and government are 
based upon the model of those of the 
United States. 

Tlie Congo Free State has sprung out 
of the discoveries of Stanley and the 
explorations of the International Asso- 
ciation, founded at Brussels for the 
opening up to civilization of the Congo 
and its tributaries. Its autonomy was 
recognized during 1884 and 1885 by the 
leading powers of Europe, and by the 
United States, conditioned upon its 
maintaining the principles of free trade. 
There are twelve territorial divisions, 
the capital being Boma. 

The central government is at Brussels, 
and consists of the king of the Bel- 
gians as sovereign, and three depart- 
mental chiefs. On the Congo there is 
an Administrator-General and several 
European administrators of stations and 
districts. The rest of West Africa is 
variously "protected" by England, 
France, Germany, and Portugal. 



PART III. 

Famous Explorations and Discoveries 



OF THE 



NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Voyages in the Polar "World. 



IN the year 1829 Captain John Ross, 
with his nephew James, having 
been furnished with sufficient 
funds by a wealthy distiller named 
Felix Booth, of London, undertook a 
private expedition of discovery in a 
small vessel called the Victory. Ross 
proceeded down Prince Regent's Inlet 
to the Gulf of Boothia, and wintered 
on the eastern side of a land named by 
him Boothia Felix. In the course of 
exploring excursions during the sum- 
mer months James Ross crossed the 
land and discovered the position of the 
north magnetic pole on the western side 
of it, on June i, 1831. He also discov- 
ered a land to the westward of Boothia 
which he named King William Land, 
and the northern shore of which he 
examined. 

The most northern point, opposite 
the magnetic pole, was called Cape 
Felix, and thence the coast trended 
south-west to Victory Point. James 
Ross was at Cape Felix on May 29, 1830. 
The Rosses never could get their little 
vessel out of its winter quarters. They 
passed three winters there, and then fell 
back on the stores; at Fury Beach, where 
they passed their fourth winter of 1832- 
33. Eventually they were picked up by 



a whaler in Barrow Strait, and brought 
home. 

Great anxiety was naturally felt at 
their prolonged absence, and in 1833, 
Sir George Back, with Dr. Richard King 
as a companion, set out by land in 
search of the missing explorers. Win- 
tering at the Great Slave Lake, he left 
Fort Reliance on June 7, 1834, and de- 
scended the Great Fish River, which is 
obstructed by many falls in the course 
of a rapid and tortuous course of 530 
miles. The mouth was reached, when 
the want of supplies obliged them to 
return. In 1836 Sir George Back was 
sent, at the suggestion of the Royal 
Geographical Society, to proceed to Re- 
pulse Bay in his ship, the Terror, and 
then to cross an assumed isthmus and 
examine the coast-line thence to the 
mouth of the Great Fish River ; but the 
ship was obliged to winter in the drift- 
ing pack, and was brought back across 
the Atlantic in a sinking condition on 
account of damage caused by the ice. 

The tracing of the polar shores of 
America was completed by the Hud- 
son's Bay Company's servants. In June 
1837 Messrs. Simpson and Dease left 
Chippewyan, reached the mouth of the 
Mackenzie, and connected that position 

247 



248 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



with point Barrow, which had been 
discovered by the Blossom in 1826. 

In 1839 Simpson passed Cape Turn- 
again of Franklin, tracing the coast 
eastward so as to connect with Back's 
work at the mouth of the Great Fish 
River. He landed at Montreal Island 
in the mouth of that river, and then 
advanced eastward as far as Castor and 
Pollux river, his farthest eastern point. 
On his return he travelled along the 
north side of the channel, which is in 
fact the south shore of the King Wil- 
liam Island discovered by James Ross. 
The south-western point of this Island 
was named Cape Herschel, and there 
Jimpson built a cairn on August 26, 

1839- 

Dr. Rae's Discoveries. 

Very little more remained to be done 
in order to complete the delineation of 
the northern shores of the American 
continent. This was entrusted to Dr. 
John Rae, a Hudson's Bay factor, in 
1846. He went in boats to Repulse 
Bay, where he wintered in a stone hut 
nearly on the Arctic Circle ; and he and 
six Orkney men maintained themselves 
on the deer they shot. During the 
spring of 1 847 Dr. Rae explored on foot 
the shores of a great gulf having 700 
miles of coast-line. He thus connected 
the work of Parry, at the mouth of Fury 
and Hecla Strait, with the work of Ross 
on the coast of Boothia, proving that 
Boothia was part of the American con- 
tinent. 

While the English were thus working 
hard to solve some of the geographical 
problems relating to Arctic America, 
the Russians were similarly engaged in 
Siberia. In 1821 lyieutenant Anjou 
made a complete survey of the New 
Siberia Islands, and came to the con- 



clusion that it was not possible to ad- 
vance far from them in a northerly 
direction, owing to the thinness of the 
ice and to open water within 20 or 30 
miles. 

Baron Wrangell prosecuted similar 
investigations from the mouth of the 
Kolyma between 1820 and 1823, He 
made four journeys with dog sledges, 
exploring the coast between Cape Tchel- 
agskoi and the Kolyma, and making 
attempts to extend his journeys to some 
distance from the land. He was always 
stopped by thin ice, and he received 
tidings from a native chief of the exis- 
tence of land at a distance of several 
leagues to the northward. 

In 1843 Middendorf was sent to ex- 
plore the region which terminates in 
Cape Tchelyuskin. He reached the 
cape in the height of the short summer, 
whence he saw open water and no ice 
blink in any direction. The whole 
arctic shore of Siberia had now been 
explored and delineated, but no vessel 
had yet rounded the extreme northern 
point, by sailing from the mouth of the 
Yenisei to that of the Lena. When 
that feat was achieved the problem of 
the north-east passage would be solved. 

Story of Franklin. 

The success of Sir James Ross's Ant- 
arctic expedition and the completion of 
the northern coast-line of America by 
the Hudson's Bay Company's servants 
gave rise in 1845 to a fresh attempt to 
make the passage from Lancaster Sound 
to Behring Strait. The story of this 
unhappy expedition of Sir John Frank- 
lin, in the Erebus and Terror, is one of 
the most thrilling in Arctic exploration. 

To understand clearly the nature of 
the obstacle which finally stopped Sir 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



249 



John Franklin, and which also stopped 
Sir Edward Parry in his first voyage, it 
is necessary to note that westward of 
Melville and Baring Islands, northward 
of the western part of the American 
coast, and northward of the channel 
leading from Smith Sonnd, there is a 
vast unknown space, the ice which en- 
cumbers it never having been traversed 
by any ship. All navigators who have 
skirted along its edge describe the stu- 
pendous thickness and massive propor- 
ions of the vast flows with which it is 
packed. 

This accumulation of ice of enormous 
thickness, to which Sir George Nares 
has given the name of a " Palaeocrystic 
Sea," arises from the absence of direct 
communication between this portion of 
the north polar region and the warm 
waters of the Atlantic and Pacific. 
Behring Strait is the only vent in a 
south-westerly direction, and that chan- 
nel is so shallow that the heavy ice 
grounds outside it. In other direc- 
tions the channels leading to Baffin's 
Bay are narrow and tortuous. In one 
place only is there a wide and straight 
lead. The heavy polar ice flows south- 
east between Melville and Baring Is- 
lands, down what is now called M'Clin- 
tock Channel, and impinges on the 
north-west coast of the King William 
Land discovered by James Ross. 

The Expedition Halted. 

It was this branch from the palaeo- 
crystic sea which finally stopped the 
progress of Franklin's expedition. On 
leaving the winter-quarters at Beechey 
Island in 1846, Franklin found a chan- 
nel leading south, along the western 
shore of the land of North Somerset 
discovered by Parry in 18 19. If he 



could reach the channel on the Ameri- 
can coast, he knew that he would be able 
to make his way along to Behring 
Strait. This channel leading south, 
now called Peel Sound, pointed directly 
to the south. He sailed down it towards 
King William Island, with land on both 
sides. 

But directly they passed the southern 
point of the western land, and were no 
longer shielded by it, the great palceo- 
crystic stream from Melville Island was 
fallen in with, pressing on King William 
Island. It was impassable. The only 
possibility of progress would have been 
by rounding the eastern side of King 
William Island, but its insularity was 
then unknown. 

Anxiety for Franklin. 

It was not until 1848 that anxiety 
began to be felt about the Franklin ex- 
pedition. In the spring of that year Sir 
James Ross was sent with two ships, the 
Enterprise and Investigator, by way of 
Lancaster Sound. He wintered at Leo- 
pold Harbor, near the north-east point 
of North Devon. In the spring he made 
a long sledge journey with Lieutenant 
M'Clintock along the northern and west- 
ern coasts of North Somerset. 

On the return of the Ross expedition 
without any tidings, the country became 
thoroughly alarmed. An extensive plan 
of search was organized — the Enterprise 
and Investigator under Collison and 
M'Clure proceeding by Behring Strait 
while the Assistance and Resolute with 
two steam tenders, the Pioneer and In- 
trepid, sailed May 3, 1850, to renew the 
search by Barrow Strait, under Captain 
Austin. Two brigs, the Lady Franklin 
and Sophia, under Captain Penny, a 
very energetic and able whaling captain, 



250 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



were sent by the same route. He had 
with him Dr. Sutherland, a naturalist, 
who did much valuable scientific work. 

Found His Winter Quarters. 

Austin and Penny entered Barrow 
Strait, and Franklin's winter quarters 
of 1845-46 was discovered at Beechey 
Island ; but there was no record of any 
kind indicating the direction taken by 
the ships. Stopped by the ice, Austin's 
expedition wintered (1850-51) in the 
pack off Griffith Island, and Penny found 
refuge in a harbor on the south coast of 
Cornwallis Island. Austin, who had 
been with Parry during his third voyage, 
was an admirable organizer. His ar- 
rangements for passing tlie winter were 
carefully thought out and answered per- 
fectly. In concert with Penny he 
planned a thorough and extensivesystem 
of search by means of sledge travelling 
in the spring ; and Lieutenant M' Clin- 
tock superintended every minute de- 
tail of this part of the work with un- 
failing forethought and consummate 
skill. 

Penny undertook the search by Wel- 
lington Channel. M'Clintock advanced 
to Melville Island, marching over 770 
miles in eighty-one days ; Captain Om- 
mantiey and Sherard Osborn passed 
southward and discovered Prince of 
Wales Island. Lieutenant Brown exam- 
ined the western shore of Peel Sound. 
The search was exhaustive ; but, except 
the winter quarters at Beechey Island, 
no record, no sign was discovered. 

The absence of any record made Cap- 
tain Austin doubt whether Franklin had 
ever gone beyond Beechey Island. So 
he also examined the entrance of Jones 
Sound, the next inlet from Baffin's Bay 
north of Lancaster Sound, on his way 



home, and returned to England in the 
autumn of 185 1. This was a thoroughly 
well-conducted expedition — '■ especially 
as regards the sledge travelling, which 
M'Clintock brought to great perfection. 
So far as the search for Franklin *vas 
concerned, nothing remained to be done 
west or north of Barrow Strait. 

In 1851 the Prince Albert schooner; 
was sent out by Lady Franklin, unde 
Captain Kennedy, with Lieutenant Bel- 
lot of the French navy as second. They 
wintered on the east coast of North 
Somerset, and in the spring of 1852 the 
gallant Frenchman, in the course of a 
long sledging journey, discovered Bellot 
Strait separating North Somerset from 
Boothia — this proving that the Boothia 
coast facing the strait was the northern 
extremity of the continent of America. 

Three Traveling Parties. 

The Enterprise and Investigator sailed 
from England in January, 1850, but ac- 
cidentally parted company before they 
reached Behring Strait. On May 6, 
1 85 1, the Enterprise passed the strait, 
and rounded Point Barrow on the 25th. 
Collinson then made his way up the 
narrow Prince of Wales Strait, between 
Baring and Prince Albert Island, and 
reached Princess Royal Islands, where 
M'Clure had been the previous year. 
Returning southwards, the Enterprise 
wintered in a sound in Prince Albert 
Island. Three travelling parties were 
dispatched in the spring of 1852 — one 
to trace Prince Albert Island in a south- 
erly direction, while the others explored 
Prince of Wales Strait, one of them 
reaching Melville Island. 

In September, 1852, the ship was free, 
and Collinson pressed eastward along the 
coast of North America, reaching Cam- 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



251 



bridge Bay September 26th, where the 
second winter was passed. In the 
spring he examined the shores of Vic- 
toria Land. He was within a few miles 
of Point Victory, where the fate of 
Franklin would have been ascertained. 
The Enterprise again put to sea on 
August 5, 1853, and returned westward 
along the American coast, until she was 
stopped by ice and obliged to pass a 
third winter at Camden Bay. In 1854 
this most remarkable voyage was com- 
pleted, and Captain Collinson brought 
the Enterprise back to England. 

Discovered North- West Passage. 

Meanwhile M'Clure, in the Investi- 
gator, had passed the winter of 1850-51 
at the Princess Royal Islands, only 
thirty miles from Barrow Strait. In 
October M'Clure ascended a hill whence 
he could see the frozen surface of Barrow 
Strait, which was navigated by Parry 
in 1819-20. Thus, like the survivors of 
Franklin's crews when they reached 
Cape Herschel, M'Clure discovered a 
north-west passage. It was impossible 
to reach it, for the branch of the palseo- 
crystic ice which stopped Franklin off 
King William Land was athwart their 
northwara course. 

So as soon as he was free in 185 1, 
M'Clure turned southwards, round the 
southern extreme of Baring Island, 
and commenced to force a passage to the 
northward between the western shore of 
that land and the enormous fields of ice 
which pressed upon it. The cliflfs rose 
up like walls on one side, while on the 
other the stupendous ice of the palaeo- 
crystic sea rose from the water to a level 
with the Investigator's lower yards. 

After many hair-breath escapes Mc- 
Clure took refuge in a bay on the 



northern shore of Bank's Land, which 
he named "The Bay of God's Mercy." 
Here the Investigator remained, never 
to move again. After the winter of 
1851-52 M'Clure made a journey across 
the ice to Melville Island, and left a 
record at Parry's winter harbor. Abund- 
ant supplies of musk ox were fortun- 
ately obtained, but a third winter had 
to be faced. In the spring of 1853 
M'Clure was preparing to abandon the 
ship with all hands, and attempt, like 
Franklin's crews, to reach the American 
coast. But succor providentially ar- 
rived in time. 

The Hudson's Bay Company assisted 
in the search for Franklin. In 1848 Sir 
John Richardson and Dr. Rae examined 
the American coast from the mouth of 
the Mackenzie to that of the Copper- 
mine. In 1849 and 1850 Rae continued 
the search ; and by a long sledge journey 
in the spring of 185 1, and a boat voyage 
in the summer, he examined the shores 
of Wollaston and Victoria Lands, which 
were afterwards explored by Captain 
Collinson in the Enterprise. 

New Expedition. 

In 1852 the British Government re- 
solved to dispatch another expedition 
by Lancaster Sound. Austin's four 
vessels were recommissioned, and the 
North Star was sent out as a depot ship 
to Beechey Island. Sir Edward Belcher 
commanded the Assistance, with the 
Pioneer under Sherard Osborn as steam 
tender. He went up Wellington Chan- 
nel to Northumberland Bay, where he 
wintered, passing a second winter lower 
down in Wellington Channel, and then 
abandoning his ships and coming home 
in 1854. But Sherard Osborn and Com- 
mander Richards did good work. They 



252 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



made sledge journeys to Melville Island 
and thus discovered the northern side 
of the Parry group. Captain Kellett 
received command of the Resolute, with 
M'Clintock in the steam tender In- 
trepid. 

Among Kellett's officers were the best 
of Austin's sledge travellers, M'Clin- 
tock, Mechani, and Vesey Hamilton, so 
that good work was sure to be done. 
George Nares, the future leader of the 
expedition of 1 874-75, was also on board 
the Resolute. Kellett passed onwards 
to the westward and passed the winter 
of 1852-53 at Melville Island. Dur- 
ing the autumn Mecham discovered 
M'Clure's record, and the safety of her 
crew was consequently assured, for it 
was only necessary to send a message 
across the strait between two fixed posi- 
tions. This service was performed by 
Lieutenaut Pini early in the following 
spring. 

The officers and crew of the Investi- 
gator, led by M'Clure, arrived safely on 
board the Resolute on June 17, 1853, 
and they reached England in the fol- 
lowing year. They not only discovered 
but traversed a north-west passage, 
though not in the same ship, and partly 
by travelling over ice. For this great 
feat M'Clure received the honor of 
knighthood — -a reward of fifty thousand 
dollars beiug voted to himself, the other 
officers, and the crew, by a vote of the 
House of Commons. 

Long Sledge Journey. 

The travelling parties of Kellett's ex- 
pedition, led by M'Clintock, Mecham 
and Vesey Hamilton, completed the 
discovery of the northern and western 
sides of INIelville Island, and the whole 
outline of the large Island of Prince 



Patrick, still further to the westward. 
M'Clintock was away from the ship 
with his sledge party for one hundred 
and five days and travelled over 1,328 
miles. Mecham was away ninety-four 
days and travelled over 1,163 miles. 
Sherard Osborn, in 1853, was away 
ninety-seven days and travelled over 
935 miles. The Resolute was obliged 
to winter in the pack in 1853-54, and 
in the spring of 1854 Mecham made 
a most remarkable journey in the 
hope of obtaining news of Captain Col- 
linson at the Princess Royal Islands. 
Leaving the ship on April 3d, he was 
absent seventy days, out of which there 
were sixty-one and a half days travel- 
ling. The distance gone over was 1,336 
statute miles. The average rate of tlie 
homeward journey was tw^enty-tliree 
and a half miles a day, the average time 
of travelling each da)' nine hours tweu' 
ty-five minutes. This journey is with 
out parallel in arctic records. 

Ships Abandoned. 

Fearing detention for another winter, 
Sir Edward Belcher ordered all the 
ships to be abandoued in the ice, the 
officers and crews being taken home in 
the North Star, and in the Phoenix and 
Talbot which had come out from Eng- 
land to comurunicate. They reached 
home in October, 1854. In 1852 Captain 
Inglefield, R.N., had made a voyage up 
Baffin's Bay in the Isabel as far as the 
entrance of Smith Sound. In 1853 and 
1854 he came out in the Phcenix to 
communicate with the North Star at 
Beechey Island. 

The drift of the Resolute was a re- 
markable proof of the direction of the 
current out of Barrow Strait. She was 
abandoned on May 14, 1854. On Sep- 



VOYAGKS IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



253 



tember lOj 1855, an American whaler 
sij^hted the Resohite in 6']^ North 
latitude, about twenty miles from Cape 
Mercy, in Davis Strait. She was 
brought into an American port, and 
eventually presented to the British Gov- 
ernment. She had drifted nearly a 
thousand miles. 

In 1853 ^'^^ ^^^ was employed to con- 



in April and May. He succeeded in 
connecting- the discoveries of Simpson 
with those of James Ross, and thus 
established the fact that King William 
Land was an island. 

Rae also brought home tidings and 
relics of Franklin's expedition gathered 
from the Eskimo; and this led to the 
expedition of M'Clintock in the Fox in 




RELICS OF franklin' 

aect a few points which would quite 
complete the examination of the coast 
of America, and establish the insularity 
of King William Land. He went up 
Chesterfield Inlet and the River Quoich 
for a considerable distance, wintering 
with eight men at Repulse Bay in a 
snow house.' Venison and fish were 
abundant. In 1854 he set out on a 
journey which occupied fifty-six days 



S POLAR FXPFDITION. 

search of Franklin. While M'Clintock 
was prosecuting his exhausting search 
over part of the west coast of Boothia, 
the whole of the shores of King Wil- 
liam Island, the mouth of the Great 
Fish River, and Montreal Island, Allen 
Young completed the discovery of the 
southern side of Prince of Wales Island. 
The Fox returned to England in the 
autumn of 1S59. 



254 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



The catastrophe of Sir John Frank- 
lin's expedition led to 7,000 miles of 
coast line being discovered, and to a 
vast extent of unknown country being 
explored, securing very considerable 
additions to geographical knowledge. 
Much attention was also given to the 
collection of information, and the scien- 
tific results of the various search expe- 
ditions were considerable. 

The catastrophe also afforded a warn- 
ing which would render any similar dis- 
aster quite inexcusable. If arrange- 
ments are always carefully made for a 
retreat beforehand, if a depot ship is 
always left within reach of the advanc- 
ing expedition as well as of the outer 
world, and if there is annual communi- 
cation, with positive rules for depositing 
records, no such catastrophe can ever 
happen again. 

The Search for Franklin. 

The American nation was first led 
to take an interest in polar research 
through a very noble and generous feel- 
ing of sympathy for Franklin and his 
brave companions. Mr. Grinnell, of 
New York, gave practical expression to 
this feeling. In 1850 he equipped two 
vessels, the Advance and Rescue, to aid 
in the search, commanded by Lieuten- 
ants De Haven and Griffith, and accom- 
panied by Dr. Kane. They reached 
Beechey Island on August 27, 1850, and 
assisted in the examination of Frank- 
lin's winter quarters, but returned with- 
out wintering. 

In 1853 Dr. Kane, in the little brig 
Advance of 12O tons, undertook to 
lead an American expedition up Smith 
Sound, the most northern outlet from 
Baffin's Bay. The Advance reached 
Smith Sound on August 7, 1853, but 



was stopped by ice only seventeen miles 
from the entrance. He described the 
coast as consisting of precipitous cliffs, 
800 to 1200 feet high, and at their base 
there was a belt of ice about eighteen 
feet thick, resting on the beach. Dr. 
Kane adopted tlie Danish name of " ice- 
foot" {is fod) for this permanent frozen 
ridge. He named the place of his 
winter-quarters Van Rensselaer Harbor. 

Immense Glacier. 

In the spring some interesting work 
was done. A great glacier was dis- 
covered and named the Humboldt 
glacier, with a sea face forty-five miles 
long. Dr. Kane's steward, Morton, 
crossed the foot of this glacier with a 
team of dogs, and reached a point of 
land beyond named Cape Constitution. 
But sickness and want of means pre- 
vented much from being done by travel- 
ling parties. Scurvy attacked the whole 
party during the second winter, al- 
though the Eskimo supplied them with 
fresh meat and were true friends in 
need. On May 17, 1855, Dr. Kane 
abandoned the brig, and reached the 
Dani.sh settlement of Upernivik on Au- 
gust 6th. Lieutenant Hartstene, who 
was sent out to search for Kane, reached 
Van Rensselaer Harbor after he had 
eone, but took the retreating crew on 
board on his return voyage. 

On July 10, i860. Dr. Hayes, who 
had served with Kane, sailed from Bos- 
ton for Smith Sound, in the schooner 
United States, of 130 tons and a crew of 
fifteen men. His object was to follow 
up the line of research opened by Dr. 
Kane. He wintered at Point Foulke, 
about ten miles from Cape Alexander, 
which forms the eastern portal of Smith 
Sound. Dr. Hayes crossed Smith Sound 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



255 



in the spring witli dog-sledges, but his 
observations are not to be depended on, 
and it is very uncertain liow far he ad- 
vanced northward on the other side. He 
returned to Boston on October 23, 1861. 
Charles Hall, of Cincinnati, was led 
to become an arctic explorer through 
his deep interest in the search for 



King William Island. He heard the 
story of the retreat and of the wreck of 
one of the ships from the Eskimo ; he 
was told that seven bodies were buried 
at Todd Island ; and he brought home 
some bones wliich are believed to be 
those of Lieutenant Le Vescomte of the 
Erebus. 




KANK AND HIS COMPANIONS BRAVING THE COI.D. 



Franklin, In his first journey, 1860-62, 
he discovered the interesting remains of 
a stone house which Sir Martin Fro- 
bisher built on the Countess of Warwick 
Island in 1578. In his second expedi- 
tion, 1864-69, Hall, by dint of the 
most unwearied perseverance at length 
reached the line of the retreat of the 
Franklin survivors, at Todd's Island 
and Peflfer river, on the south coast of 



Finally, in 1871, he took the Polaris 
for 250 miles up the channel which 
leads northwards from Smith Sound. 
The various parts of this long channel 
are called Smith Sound, Kane Basin, 
Kennedy Channel, and Robeson Chan- 
nel. The Polaris was beset on 30th 
August ; and her winter quarters were in 
81° 38' N., called Thank God Bay, 
The death of Hall followed and the 



256 



VOYAGES IN The polar WORLD. 



subsequent fortunes of the expedition 
were of the most perilous description. 

Between 1858 and 1872 the Swedes 
sent seven expeditions to Spitzbergen 
and two to Greenland. All returned 
with valuable scientific results. That 
of 1864 under Nordenskiold and Duner 
made observations at eighty different 
places on the Spitzbergen shores, and 
fixed the heights of numerous moun- 
tains. In 1868, in an iron steamer, the 
Sophia, the Swedes attained a latitude 
of 81° 42' N. on the meridain of 18° E., 
during the month of September. In 
1872 an expedition consisting of the 
Polhem steamer and brigGladen, com- 
manded by Professor Nordenskiold and 
Lieutenant Palander, wintered in Mus- 
sel Bay, on the northern shore of Spitz- 
bergen. In the spring an important 
sledging journey of sixty days' dura- 
tion was made over ^orth-East Land. 
The expedition was in some distress as 
regards provisions owing to two vessels, 
which were to have returned, having 
been forced to winter. But in the sum- 
mer of 1873 they were visited by Mr. 
Leigh vSmith, in his yacht Diana, who 
supplied them with fresh provisions. 

Pressing Northward. 

Dr. Petermann of Gotha urged his 
countrymen to take their share in the 
noble work of polar discovery, and at 
his own risk he fitted out a small vessel 
called the Germania, which sailed from 
Bergen in May, 1868, under the com- 
mand of Captain Koldewey. His cruise 
extended to Hinlopen Strait in Spitz- 
bergen, but was merely tentative ; and 
in 1870 Baron von Heuglin with Count 
Zeil explored the Stor Fjord in a Nor- 
wegian schooner, and also examined 
Walter Thy men's Strait. After the re- 



turn of the Germania in 1 868 a regular 
expedition was organized under the 
command of Captain Koldewey, provi- 
sioned for two years. It consisted of 
the Germania, a screw steamer of 140 
tons, and the brig Hansa commanded 
by Captain Hegemann. 

Crushed in the Ice. 

Lieutenant Payer, the future discov- 
erer of Franz Josef Land, gained his 
first arctic experience on board the 
Germania. The expedition sailed from 
Bremen on the 15th June, 1869, its des- 
tination being the east coast of Green- 
land. But the Hansa got separated 
from her consort and crushed in the ice. 
The crew built a house of patent fuel 
on the floe, and in this strange abode 
they passed their Christmas. In two 
months the current had carried them 
south for 400 miles. By May they had 
drifted iioo miles on their ice-raft, and 
finally, on June 14, 1870, they arrived at 
the Moravian mission station of Fried- 
riksthal, to the west of Cape Farewell. 

Fairer fortune attended the Germania. 
She sailed up the east coast of Green- 
land, and eventually wintered at the 
Pendulum Islands of Clavering. In 
March, 1870, a travelling party set out, 
under Koldewey and Payer, and reached 
a distance of 100 miles from the ship to 
the northward, when want of provisions 
compelled them to return. A grim 
cape, named after Prince Bismarck, 
marked the northern limit of their dis- 
coveries. As soon as the vessel was free, 
a deep branching inlet was discovered 
stretching for a long distance into the 
interior of Greenland. Along its shore 
are peaks 7,000 and 14,000 feet high. 
The expedition returned to Bremen on 
September 11, 1870. 



VOYAGES IN THE POI,AR WORLD. 



257 



Lieutenant Payer was resolved to con- 
tinue in the path of polar discovery. 
He and a naval officer named Weyprecht 
freighted a Norwegian schooner called 
the Isbjorn, and examined the edge of 
the ice between Spitzbergen and Nova 
Zembla, in the summer of 1871. Their 
observations led them to select the 
' route by the north end of Nova Zembla 
with a view to making the north-east 
passage. It was to be an Austria-Hun- 
garian expedition, and the idea was 
seized with enthusiasm by the whole 
empire. Weyprecht was to command 
the ship, while Julius Payer conducted 
the sledge parties. 

A Winter of Adventures. 

The steamer Tegethoff, of 300 tons, 
was fitted out in the Elbe, and left 
Tromso on July 14, 1872. The season 
was exceptionally severe, and the vessel 
was closely beset near Cape Nassau, at 
the northern end of Nova Zembla, in 
the end of August. The summer of 1 873 
found her still a close prisoner drifting, 
not with a current, but in the direction 
of the prevailing wind. At length, on 
the 3 ist August, a mountainous country 
was sighted about 14 miles to the north. 
In October the vessel was drifted within 
three miles of an island lying off the 
main mass of land. Payer landed on it. 
It was named after Count Wilczek, one 
of the warmest friends of the expedi- 
tion. 

Here the second winter was passed. 
Bears were very numerous and as many 
as sixty-seven were killed, their meat 
proving to be a most efficient remedy 
against scurvy. In March, 1874, Payer 
made a preliminary sledge journey in 
intense cold. On 24th March he started 
for a more prolonged journey of thirty 
17 



days. Payer found that the newly dis- 
covered country equalled Spitzbergen 
in extent, and consisted of two or more 
large masses — Wilzcek Land to the east, 
Zichy Land to the west, intersected by 
numerous fords and skirted by a large 
number of islands. A wide channel, 
named Austria Sound, separates the two 
main masses of land, where Rawlinson 
Sound forks oflf to the north-east. 

Perilous Voyage. 

The mountains attain a height of 
2000 to 3000 feet, the depressions be- 
tween them being covered with gla- 
ciers ; and all the islands even are cov- 
ered with a glacial cap. The whole 
country was named Franz-Josef Land. 
Payer returned to the Tegethoff on 24th 
April ; and a third journey was under- 
taken to explore a large island named 
after McClintock. It then became ne- 
cessary to abandon the ship and attempt 
a retreat in boats. This perilous voy- 
age was commenced on 20th May. 
Three boats stored with provisions were 
placed on sledges. It was not until 
14th August that they reached the edge 
of the pack and launched the boats. 

Eventually they were picked up by a 
Russian schooner and arrived at Vardo 
on September 3, 1874. This great 
achievement is one of the most impor- 
tant connected with the north polar re- 
gion that has been made in the nine- 
teenth century, and will probably lead 
in due time to still further discoveries 
in the same direction. 

One of the most interesting problems 
connected with the physical geography 
of the polar regions is the history and 
actual condition of the vast interior of . 
Greenland, which is generally believed 
to be one enormous glacier. In 1867 



^58 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



Mr. Edward Whymper carefully plan- 
ned an expedition to solve the question, 
and went to Greenland, accompanied by 
Dr. Robert Brown ; but the season was 
too late and progress was stopped, after 
going a short distance, by the breaking 
down of the dog-sledges. But Dr. 
Brown made most valuable geological 
and natural history collections, chiefly 
in the neighborhood of Disco, and still 
more valuable observations, the publi- 
cation of which has added considerably 
to our knowledge. Dr. Rink, for many 
years royal inspector of South Green- 
land and the most distinguished author- 
ity on all Greenlandic questions, has 
also visited the inland ice, and has given 
his stores of information to the world. 

Captain Nare's Expedition. 

The gallant enterprises of other coun- 
tries rekindled the zeal of England for 
arctic discovery ; and in October, 1874, 
the prime minister announced that an 
expedition would be despatched in the 
following year. The route by Smith 
Sound was selected because it gave the 
certainty of exploring a previously un- 
known area of considerable extent, be- 
cause it yielded the best prospect of 
valuable scientific results, and because 
it offered, with proper precautions, rea- 
sonable security for a safe retreat in case 
of disaster. 

Two powerful screw steamers, the 
Alert and Discovery, were selected for 
the service, and Captain Nares was se- 
lected as leader. Commander Mark- 
ham who had made a cruise up Baffin's 
Bay and Barrow Strait in a whaler dur- 
ing the previous year, lyieutenant 
Aldrich, an accomplished surveyor, and 
Captain Feilden, as naturalist, were 
also in the Alert. The Discovery was 



commanded by Captain Stephenson, 
with Lieutenant Beaumont as first 
lieutenant. The expedition left Ports- 
mouth on the 29th May, 1875, and en- 
tered Smith Sound in the last days of 

July. 

After much difficulty with the drift- 
ing ice Lady Franklin Bay was reached, 
where the Discovery was established in 
winter-quarters. The Alert passed on- 
wards, and reached the edge of the 
palseocrystic sea, the ice-floes being from 
80 to 100 feet in thickness. Leaving 
Robeson Channel, the vessel made pro- 
gress between the land and the ground- 
ed floe pieces, and passed the winter off 
the open coast and facing the great 
polar pack. Autumn travelling parties 
were despatched in September and Octo- 
ber to lay out depots ; and during the 
winter a complete scheme was matured 
for the examination of as much of the 
unknown area as possible, by the com- 
bined efforts of sledging parties from 
the two ships, in the ensuing sprini^. 
The parties started on April 3, 1876 

Valuable Discoveries. 

Captain Markham with Lieutenant 
Parr advanced, in the face of almost in- 
surmountable difficulties, over the polar 
pack to the high latitude of 83° 20' 
26" N. Lieutenant Aldrich explored 
the coast-line to the westward, facing 
the frozen polar ocean, for a distance of 
220 miles. Lieutenant Beaumont made 
discoveries of great interest along the 
northern coast of Greenland. The par- 
ties were attacked by scurvy, which, 
while increasing the difficulty and 
hardships of the work a hundredfold, 
also enhanced the devoted heroism of 
these gallant explorers. Captain Feilden 
was indefatigable in making collections, 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



259 



and was zealously assisted by all the 
officers. 

The expedition returned to England 
in October, 1876. The Alert reached 
the highest northern latitude ever at- 
tained by any ship, and wintered 
further north than any ship had ever 
wintered before. The results of the 
expedition were the discovery of 300 
miles of new coast-line , the examina- 
tion of this part of the frozen polar 
ocean, a series of meteorological, mag- 
netic, and tidal observations at two 
points farther north than any such ob- 
servations had ever been taken before, 
and large geological and natural history 
collections. 

Compelled to Return. 

In the same year, 1875, Sir Allen 
Young undertook a voyage in his steam 
yacht, the Pandora, to attempt to force 
his way down Peel Sound to the mag- 
netic pole, and if possible to make the 
north-west passage by rounding the 
eastern shore of King William Island. 
The Pandora entered Peel Sound on 
August 29, 1875, and proceeded down 
it much farther than any vessel had 
gone before since it was passed by 
Franklin's two ships in 1846. Sir Allen 
sighted Cape Bird, at the northern side 
of the western entrance of Bellot Strait. 
But here an ice-barrier right across the 
channel barred his progress, and he was 
obliged to retrace his steps, returning 
to England on October 16, 1875. In 
the following year Sir Allen Young 
made another voyage in the Pandora 
to the entrance of Smith Sound. 

In 1 879 an enterprise was undertaken 
in the United States, with the object of 
throwing further light on the sad his- 
tory of the retreat of the officers and 



men of Sir John Franklin's expedition, 
by examining the west coast of King 
William Island in the summer, when 
the snow is oflf the ground. The party 
consisted of lyieutenant Schwatka of 
the United States army and three 
others. Wintering near the entrance 
of Chesterfield Inlet in Hudson's Bay, 
they set out overland for the estuary of 
the Great Fish River, assisted by Eski- 
mo and dogs, on April i, 1879. 

Great Herd of Reindeer. 

They only took one month's provi- 
sions, their main reliance being upon 
the game affiarded by the region to be 
traversed. The party obtained, during 
the journeys out and home, no less than 
five hundred and twenty-two reindeer. 
After collecting various stories from 
the Eskimo at Montreal Island and 
at an inlet west of Cape Richardson, 
Schwatka crossed over to Cape Her- 
schel on King William Island in June. 
He examined the western shore of the 
island with the greatest care for relics 
of Sir John Franklin's parties, as far as 
Cape Felix, the northern extremity. 

The return journey was commenced 
in November by ascending the Great 
Fish River for some distance and then 
marching over the intervening region 
to Hudson's Bay. The cold of the 
winter months in this country is 
oftentimes intense, the thermometer 
falling as low as 70° below zero — so 
that the return journey was most re- 
markable, and reflects the highest credit 
on Ivieutenant Schwatka and his com- 
panions. As regards the search little 
was left to be done after M'Clintock, 
but some graves were found, as well as 
a medal belonging to Ivieutenant Irving 
of H. M. S. Terror, and some bones 



260 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



believed to have been his, which were 
brought home and interred at Edin- 
burgh. 

Mr. Gordon Bennett, the proprietor 
of the New York Herald^ having re- 
solved to despatch an expedition of 
discovery at his own expense by way 
of Behring Strait, the Pandora was 
purchased from Sir Allen Young, and 
rechristened the Jeannette. Lieutenant 
De Long of the United States navy was 
appointed to command, and it was made 
a national undertaking by special Act 
of Congress, the vessel being placed 
under martial law and oflScered from 
the navy. 

The Jeannette sailed from San Fran- 
cisco on July 8, 1879, and was last seen 
steaming towards Wrangell Land on 
the 3d of September. This land had 
been seen by Captain Kellett, in H. M. 
S. Herald on August 17, 1879, but no 
one had landed on it, and it was shown 
on the charts by a long dotted line. 

Searching Party. 

The Jeannette was provisioned for 
three years, but as no tidings had been 
received of her up to 1881, two steam- 
ers were sent up Behring Strait in 
search. One of these, the Rodgers, 
under Lieutenant Berry, anchored in a 
good harbor on the south coast of Wran- 
gell Land on the 26th August 1881. 
The land was explored by the officers 
of the Rodgers and found to be an 
island about 70 miles long by 28, with 
a ridge of hills traversing it east and 
west, the 71st parallel running along 
its southern shore. 

Lieutenant Berry then proceeded to 
examine the ice to the northward, and 
attained a higher latitude by 21 miles 
than had ever been reached before on 



the Behring Strait meridian.. No news 
was obtained of the Jeannette, but soon 
afterwards melancholy tidings arrived 
from Siberia. After having been beset 
in heavy pack ice for twenty-two 
months, the Jeannette was crushed and 
sunk on the 12th June 1881. 

Separated in a Gale. 

The officers and men dragged their 
boats over the ice to an island which 
was named Bennett Island, where they 
landed on the 29th July. They reached 
one of the New Siberia Islands on the 
loth September, and on the 12th they 
set out for the mouth of the Lena. But 
in the same evening the three boats 
were separated in a gale of wind. A 
boat's crew with Mr, Melville, the en- 
gineer, reached Irkutsk, and Mr. Mel- 
ville set out in search of Lieutenant 
De Long and his party, who had also 
landed. The other boat was lost. Event- 
ually Melville discovered the dead bodies 
of De Long and two of his crew on 
March 23, 1883. They had perished 
from exhaustion and want of food. 
The Rodgers was burnt in its winter 
quarters, and one of the officers, Mr. 
Gilder, made a hazardous journey home- 
wards through north-east Siberia. 

On September 18, 1875, Lieutenant 
Weyprecht, one of the discoverers of 
Franz-Joseph Land, read a thoughtful 
and carefully prepared paper before a 
large meeting of German naturalists at 
Gratz on the scientific results to be 
obtained from polar research and the 
best means of securing them. He urged 
the importance of establishing a num- 
ber of stations within or near the Arctic 
Circle, in order to record complete 
series of synchronous meteorological 
and magnetic observations. 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



261 



Lieutenant Weyprecht did not live 
to see his suggestions carried into exe- 
eution, but they bore fruit in due time. 



at another at St. Petersburg in 1882, and 
it was decided that each nation should 
establish one or more stations \is*here 




BRILLIANT AURORA IN THE; POLAR SEA. 



The various nations of Europe were 
represented at an international polar 
conference at Hamburg in 1879, and 



synchronous observations should be 
taken from August 1882. This useful 
project was matured and executed. 



262 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



The American stations commenced 
work in 1882. Lieutenant Greely's 
party consisted of two other lieutenants, 
of twenty sergeants and privates of the 
United States army, and Dr. Pavy, an 
enthusiastic explorer who had been 
■educated in France, and had passed the 
previous winter among the Eskimo of 
Greenland. On August 11, 1881, the 
steamer Proteus conveyed Lieutenant 
Greely and his party to Lady Franklin 
Bay during an exceptionally favorable 
season ; a house was built at the Dis- 
cover's winter-quarters, and they were 
left with two years' provisions. The 
regular series of observations was at 
once commenced, and two winters were 
passed without accident. Travelling 
parties were also sent out in the sum- 
mer, dogs having been obtained nt 
Disco. 

Lieutenant Lockwood made a jour- 
ney along the north coast of Greenland, 
and reached a small island. Dr. Pavy 
and another went a short distance be- 
yond the winter-quarters of the Alert, 
and a trip was made into the interior 
of Grinnell Land. But all this region 
had already been explored and exhaus- 
tively examined by the English expe- 
dition in 1875-76. 

Greely Makes a Start. 

As no successor arrived in the sum- 
mer of 1883 — though relieving vessels 
were despatched both in 1882 and 1883 
— Lieutenant Greely started from Lady 
Franklin Bay with his men on the 9th 
of August, expecting to find a vessel 
in Smith Sound. 

On the 2 1st of October they were 
obliged to encamp at Cape Sabine, on 
the western shore of Smith Sound, and 
build a, hut for wintering. A few 



depots were found, which had been left 
by Sir George Nares and Lieutenant 
Beebe, but all was exhausted before the 
spring. Then came a time of inde- 
scribable misery and acute suffering. 
The poor fellows began to die of actual 
starvation ; and when the relieving 
steamers Thetis and Bear reached Cape 
Sabine, Lieutenant Greely and six 
siifiering companions were found just 
alive. 

If the simple and necessary precau- 
tion had been taken of stationing a 
depot ship in a good harbor at the 
entrance of Smith Sound, in annual 
communication with Greely on one 
side and with America on the other, 
there would have been no disaster. 

Dr. Nansen in Greenland. 

The attention of explorers and scien- 
tific men was turned towards Green- 
land, as the knowledge of the interior 
of that country was very meagre. In 
1886 Lieutenant Robert E. Peary vis- 
ited that island in quest of scientific 
information. The southern part of the 
island was crossed on snow shoes from 
east to west by Dr. Nansen, the famous 
Norwegian explorer. Peary returned 
to Greenland in 1891, with a few at- 
tendants, and making McCormick Bay 
a base of operations, set out the follow- 
ing spring, accompanied by only a 
single companion, on a journey with 
sledges through the northern part of 
the island. 

His journey of 650 miles was a re- 
markable feat considering the great 
difficulties he encountered. He reached 
the north-east coast of Greenland, but 
further progress was cut off by an area 
of broken stones impassable to his 
sledges. Peary made another journey 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



263 



in the same direction in 1895, but failed 
to advance beyond the point gained by 
his previous expedition. 

Dr. Nansen, already mentioned, con- 
ceived the idea of reaching the pole by 
the strong ocean current that is sup- 
posed to cross the polar sea. For his 
expedition he had a ship constructed, 
so strong as to be able to offer forni id- 
able resistance to the ice, and so built 
that •^reat pressure would lift it to the 
top of the ice-floe. Tl ^ intrepid ex- 
plorer set out in this vessel, the Fram, 
in June, 1893, and proceeded to New 
Siberia Islands. Here he anchored his 
ship to an ice-floe, and waited to see if 
the current would drift the vessel across 
the polar sea. It is needless to state 
that his expectations were not realized. 

Great Explorer's Return. 

For three years no tidings came from 
Nansen and his intrepid crew. They 
appeared to have gone out in the mys- 
terious darkness that veils the polar 
world, with little prospect of ever re- 
turning or leaving any tidings of their 
fate. But suddenly the world was 
stirred by the information that the 
great explorer had returned from his 
perilous voyage. 

Although Dr. Nansen did not accom- 
plish his object, his vessel floated into 
a higher latitude than had ever been 
reached before by 200 miles ; he was then 
300 miles from the point farthest north. 
Here his vessel turned southward and 
drifted in the opposite direction. In 
March, 1895, he left the Fram because 
of the slow progress made, and began 
a journey north with one companion. 
After struggling for a long time against 
many obstacles he was compelled to 
relinquish his effort and return. 



With his companion, Jobansen, he 
finally arrived at Franz Joseph Land, 
where they spent the winter of 1895-96, 
living on the flesh of walruses and 
bears which they succeeded in captur- 
ing. Meanwhile, in 1894, an English' 
explorer, Frederick G. Jackson, visited 
Franz Joseph Land, where he remained 
three years, carefully exploring it dur- 
ing this time. In the spring Dr. Jack- 
son met Nansen and his friend, and it 
was through him that the great Nor- 
wegian explorer was rescued and suc- 
ceeded in returning to his native land. 
His exploit was considered one of the 
most remarkable in the history of polar 
explorations. 

He visited England, Scotland and 
the United States, and was everywhere 
received with the honor due to his 
achievements, and wherever he lectured 
great interest was awakened by his 
story of the Polar world. No one desti- 
tute of great courage, intrepidity and 
perseverance could have braved the 
rigors of the Arctic clime and accom- 
plished what Nansen did. 

A Balloon Voyage. 

In the summer of 1897 an explorer of 
Swedish birth, S. A. Andree, conceived 
the idea of reaching the pole by mean? 
of a balloon voyage. Although the 
attempt was considered by most persons 
as visionary he succeeded in making a 
start with two companions, holding out 
expectations of his return in a few 
months after having accomplished his 
object. The party was never heard of 
afterward, and undoubtedly met the fate 
that was anticipated by all scientific 
men, who looked upon the undertaking 
as a piece of the utmost folly. 

Mention has been made of Lieutenant 



264 



VOYAGES IN THE POLAR WORLD. 



Peary, of the United States Navy, who 
has distinguished himself in Arctic ex- 
plorations, especially in Greenland. In 
1898 he returned to Greenland to pursue 
his discoveries. Thus the century has 
witnessed a great advance in our knowl- 
edge of the Polar region, which, by 
these various voyages and the heroic 
achievements of those who have under- 
taken them, has been brought near to 
the rest of the world and is no longer 
such an unknown realm as it was a 
hundred years before and has been for 
thousands of years. 

Life in the Arctics. 

Human life in these far regions is 
even more wonderful than that of the 
lower animals. It is hardly credible 
that in these bleak territories of endless 
snow and winter people should be found 
who prefer their snowy surroundings to 
all the glories of more tropical climes, 
and would not exchange their snow- 
villages for the splendor of any metro- 
polis in either hemisphere. 

There is not a more singular people 
on the earth than those living within 
the Arctic belt ; nomadic, and yet all 
their resources are taxed to procure a 
living ; always pressed for food, and yet 
wonderfully hospitable; true barba- 
rians, but none the less peaceable and 
clever. Away in the chilly North 



nature withholds her gifts of food and 
warmth, and then with hard and piti- 
less niggardness, she drives such chilly 
blasts as if life within her sphere had 
angered her. Under a glinting sky of 
frost, within an unbroken landscape of 
inexpressibly lonesome desolation, the 
Esquimau makes his home and lives, 
despite the rigor and barren waste of his 
nameless country. 

These wonderful children of eccentric 
creation are controlled by no law, either 
written or traditional, and acknow- 
ledge accountability only to their own 
conscience, and yet they are orderlv 
and given little to crime. They have 
patriarchs in their tribes who give ad- 
vice, but never assert authority. Es- 
quimau children render singular obe- 
dience to their parents, even after 
reaching maturity, which proceeds from 
a remarkable fraternal devotion, for 
there is no such thing as punishment of 
a male child by its parents. 

The value of the scientific discoveries 
made during the century by explorers 
in the Polar world cannot be overesti- 
mated. The frigid blanks of the North 
have been brought near ; a new world 
has been revealed, although buried in 
snow and ice; adventure has dazzled 
the nations with its feats, and much 
has been added to the sum of human 
knowledge. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Livingstone and Stanley in Central Africa. 



fHE greatest names in the history 
of Central African exploration 
in the Nineteenth Century are 
those of Livingstone and Stanley. The 
brave old missionary whose name stands 
first had passed more than tvi^enty years 
of his life in Africa when he set out 
upon his last and most important journey 
in 1866. 

Sailing from Zanzibar with a party 
of thirty men — Arabs, Hindoos, and 
negroes — he landed at the mouth of the 
Rovuma, and proceeded in a south- 
westerly direction, along a most difficult 
route. It was a mere footpath, which 
had been made by the natives through 
the dense jungle by the easiest way, 
without any regard to its course being 
in the right direction. In pursuing this 
devious track, Livingstone and his party 
had to cut their way through with axes 
to enable the camels to pass under the 
branches of trees, and avoid the im- 
pediments presented by the rope-like 
climbing and trailing plants that fes- 
tooned them. 

In September he was within view of 
Lake Nyassa. Crossing the mountains, 
he descended into the valley of the 
Cham.bezi, which at that time, misled 
by Portuguese writers and the similarity 
of name, he believed to be the head 
water of the Zambesi. Continuing his 
journey westward, he entered the king- 
dom of Lunda, the ruler of which, the 
famous Cazembe, was a man of consid- 
erable intelligence. This potentate, a 
tall, stalwart negro, clad in crimson 
cotton, received the traveller very hospi- 



tably, and gave orders that he should 
be allowed to go where he would in his 
country unmolested. 

During their interview, the Queen ol 
Cazembe was brought up to the house 
on a litter, surrounded by her body- 
guard. Being a fine, tall young woman, 
of attractive exterior, she had calcu- 
lated, it would seem, upon making a 
powerful impression upon the white 
man, and had dressed herself for the in- 
terview in the choicest articles of attire 
her wardrobe aSbrded. But something 
in her appearance caused the doctor to 
laugh ; her majesty laughed also, per- 
haps at the appearance of the doctor, 
who was the first tvhite man she had 
ever seen. The laugh was echoed by 
the whole band of bearers, which so 
disconcerted her that, instead of staying 
to make a conquest of the doctor, she 
beat an undignified retreat, followed by 
her body-guard. 

On leaving Cazembe's capital, Liv- 
ingstone proceeded in a north-easterly 
direction until he reached a lake, which 
the natives called Liemba, but which 
he found, by tracing it northward, to 
be Tanganika. In November, 1867, 
he reached the shores of Lake Moero, 
which is about sixty miles in length, 
and, rounding its southern extremity, 
discovered a river, called the Luapula, 
flowing into it. Following it south- 
ward, he found that it proceeded from 
the great lake of Bangweolo, which is 
as large as Tanganika ; and in explor- 
ing the shores of the lake he found the 
Chambezi flowing into it, and thus dis- 

265 



266 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



covered that it was not the Zambesi, as 
he had at first supposed. 

He then returned to lyunda, and 
rested some time with the hospitable 
monarch of that country. Again re- 
suming his wanderings, he was deserted 
by all his followers, except two. They 
repented, however, and returned to his 



lyualaba. Its course was winding, but 
with great perseverance he traced it 
into the long narrow lake of Kamo- 
londo. 

Then he turned southward, and traced 
the river up to the foot of Lake Moero. 
Turning northward again, he followed 
the river through all its numerous 




DR. LIVINGSTONE THE CELEBRATED AFRICAN EXPLORER. 



service ; and in March, 1 869, he reached 
Ujiji. 

After resting there three months, 
he crossed over to Uguhra, on the wes- 
tern shore of Tanganika, and thence 
accompanied a trading party to Bam- 
barre, where he was detained six months 
with ulcerated feet. As soon as he was 
able to travel again, he set off in a 
northerly direction, and after several 
days reached a broad river called the 



bends to within four degrees of the 
equator. He heard of another lake 
farther north, in which it was said to 
run ; and was led by this northward 
course to the conclusion that he had 
discovered the headwaters of the Nile 
in the Chambezi and the Lualaba. He 
was destitute of means for further ex- 
plorations, however, and retraced his 
steps to Ujiji. 

So long a time had now elapsed since 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



267 



any news of the gallant old man had 
been received in England that much 
anxiety was felt as to his fate, not only 
in that country, but throughout the 
civilized world. Mr. Bennett, proprie- 
tor of the "New York Herald," seized 
the opportunity that thus presented 
itself, and commissioned one of its most 
trusty correspondents, the now famous 
Stanley, to lead an expedition into the 
wilds of Central Africa in search of 
lyivingstone. 

Preparing for the Journey. 

Stanley reached Zanzibar in the first 
week of 1871, and a month later left 
that place, accompanied by Farquhar 
and Shaw, who had held the rank of 
mates in the mercantile marine, an 
Arab named Selim, who was to serve 
^ interpreter, six natives who had 
travelled with Captain Speke, and 
eighteen other negroes. 

Landing at Bagamoyo, twenty-five 
miles south of Zanzibar, he was there 
detained several weeks by the usual 
difficulty of procuring porters ; but at 
length a start was made for the interior, 
all engaged in the expedition in the 
highest spirits. The route pursued 
had never been trodden by white men 
before, and for several days presented 
alternate tracts of jungle and swamp. 
Then the party entered upon a ver- 
dant plain, backed by distant moun- 
tains. But the prospect soon changed; 
the grassy plain was succeeded by ex- 
' tensive reedy swamps, intersected by 
numerous shallow streams. His follow- 
ers, too, European as well as native, 
gave Stanley considerable trouble, of 
which an instance may be quoted. 

Stanley was waiting for Shaw, who 
was leading a caravan with supplies. 



Food being scarce in the camp, and 
Shaw not arriving, he sent a message 
to him, requiring him to come on with 
all the speed he could ; but time passed, 
and the caravan arrived not. 

Stanley then set out to meet it, and 
thus describes Shaw's order of march : 
"Stout burly Chowereh carried the 
cart on his head, having found that 
carrying it was easier than drawing it. 
The sight was such a damper to my 
regard for it as an experiment, that the 
cart was wheeled into the reeds and 
there left. The central figure was 
Shaw himself, riding at a gait which 
rendered it doubtful whether he or his 
animal felt most sleepy. Upon expos- 
tulating with him for keeping the cara- 
van so long waiting when there was a 
march on hand, he said he had done 
the best he could ; but as I had seen 
the solemn pace at which he rode, I 
felt dubious about his best endeavors, 
and requested him, if he could not 
mend his pace, to dismount and permit 
the donkey to proceed to camp, that it 
might be loaded for the march." 

AfricaL' Scenery. 

Wooded valleys succeeded, and in the 
first week of June the expedition en- 
tered the region of Uyanzi, where, says 
Stanley, "the scenery was much more 
picturesque than any we had yet seen 
since leaving Bagamoyo. The ground 
rose into grander waves, hills cropped 
out here and there, great castles of 
syenite appeared, giving a strange and 
weird appearance to the forest. " 

Unyanyembe was reached a few days 
afterwards, but then came many trou- 
bles ; many of the men were prostrated 
by sickness, many more deserted, and 
the invasion of the country by the re- 



268 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



doubtable Mirambo added to the diffi- 
culties by which Stanley was beset. 
Farquhar first, and then Shaw were left 
behind, in the care of friendly chiefs, 
weary and sick, and it was not until 
September that Stanley was able to 
leave Unyanyembe for Ujiji. 

An Unbounded Forest. 

"We ascended," says Stanley, "a 
ridge bristling with syenite boulders of 
massive size, appearing above the forest 
— an illimitable forest, stretching in 
grand waves far beyond the ken of 
vision ; ridges, forest-clad, rising gently 
one above another until they receded 
in the dim purple distance, with a warm 
haze floating above them, which, though 
clear enough in our neighborhood, be- 
came impenetrably blue in the far dis- 
tance. 

"Woods, woods, woods, one above 
another, rising, falling and receding — 
a very leafy ocean. The horizon at all 
points presents the same view. There 
may be an indistinct outline of a hill 
far away, or a taller tree than the rest 
conspicuous in its outlines against the 
translucent sky ; with this exception, 
it is the same — the same clear sky drop- 
ping into the depths of the forest, the 
same outlines, the same forest, the same 
horizon, day after day, week after 
week. 

Early in October the expedition." 
entered upon what Stanley calls "a 
grand, noble expanse of park-land, whose 
glorious magnificence and vastness of 
prospect, with a far-stretching carpet of 
verdure, darkly flecked here and there 
by miniature clumps of jungle, was one 
of the finest scenes in Africa." Large 
game was plentiful, herds of zebras, 
buffaloes, giraffes and antelopes roam- 



ing in every direction over the grassy 
plain, so that the travelers were now 
abundantly supplied with food. 

Farther on, where the undulations 
swelled into hills and valleys, and the 
rivers rendered the latter swampy, ele- 
phants and rhinoceri were seen for the 
first time. Leopards were occasionally 
seen, and lions roared at night around 
the camp. 

Ravines and Naked Rocks. 
Winding along the base of the Kasera 
mountains, they crossed the lofty ridge 
which bounds the depression of Imrera 
on the west and north, and on the 29th 
"were in view of the sublimest but 
ruggedest scene we had yet beheld in 
Africa. The country was cut up in all 
directions by deep, narrow ravines, 
trending generally toward the north- 
west, while on either side rose enormous 
square masses of naked rock (sandstone), 
with but little vegetation anywhere 
visible, except it obtained a precarious 
tenure in the fissured crown of some 
hill top, or at the base of the scarps 
whicii everywhere lifted their fronts to 
our view." 

The Malagarazi was crossed on the 
2nd of November, and on the following 
day news that Livingston was at Ujiji 
was received from a negro caravan com- 
ing from that direction, and Stanley 
immediately pushed on with renewed 
vigor. 

On the loth, a silvery gleam seen be- 
tween the trees afforded the first glimpse 
of Lake Tanganika ; but several hours 
elapsed before they looked down upon 
Ujiji, embowered among graceful palms. 
Then the American flag was unfurled, 
guns were fired, and as the expedition 
marched into the village the inhabi- 



tlVINGSTONB AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



269 



tants, Arabs and negroes of many tribes, 
swarmed out to meet them. 

"Good morning, sir," said a voice 
from the black crowd, and Stanley, look- 
ing round in surprise, saw a joyous- 



' ' Is Dr. Livingstone here ? ' ' asked 
Mr. Stanley. 
"Yes, sir." 
"Are you sure?" 
" Sure, sir ; I leave him just now." 




HENRY M. STA.NLEY, FAMOUS FOR HIS EXPT.ORA'TIONS IN AFRICA. 



looking negro, wetiring a white turban 
and a long white shirt. 

"Who the mischief are you?" the 
astonished traveller asked. 

"I am Susi, the servant of Dr. Liv- 
ingstone," was the reply. 



"Good morning, sir," said another 
voice. 

"Hallo!" said Stanley. "Is this 
another one?" 

" Yes, sir,' ' said another ebony figure. 

"Well, what is your name ?" 



270 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



''My name is Chumah, sir." 

"And is the doctor well?" 

" Not very well, sir." 

" Now, you Susi, run and tell the doc- 
tor I am coming.' ' 

"Yes, sir." And off rushed Susi. 

Proceeding through a momently in- 
creasing crowd, Stanley met Susi 
again, breathless with running. He 
had told the doctor that a white man 
was coming, but when Livingstone, 
too much surprised to conceive such 
a visit possible, asked the traveller's 
name, Susi had no answer to give 
him. The news had spread, how- 
ever, and the Arab iragnates of the 
place gathered under the verandah. 

Stanley Meets Dr. Livingstone. 

"I pushed back the crowd," says 
Stanley, "and walked down a living 
avenue of people, until I came in front 
of the semi-circle of Arabs, in front of 
which stood the white man. As I ad- 
vanced I noticed he was pale, looked 
wearied, had a gray beard, wore a blue 
cap with a faded gold band round it, 
had on a red-sleeved waistcoat, and a 
pair of grey tweed trousers. 

"I would have run to him, only I 
was a coward in the presence of such a 
mob — would have embraced him, only 
he being an Englishman I did not know 
how he would receive me ; so I walked 
deliberately to him, took off my hat and 
said, ' Dr. Livingstone, I presume ? ' 
* Yes, ' said he, with a smile, lifting his 
cap slightly. I replaced my hat on my 
head, and he puts on his cap, and we 
grasp hands, and I say, 'I thank God, 
doctor, I have been permitted to see 
you.' He answered, ' I feel thankful 
that I am here to welcome you." I 
turned to the Arabs, took off my hat to 



them in respon je to the saluting chorus 
oiyambos I received, and the doctor in- 
troduced them to me by name." 

The Arabs, with the delicacy of true 
politeness, soon left the two Europeans 
together, and then Stanley handed to 
Livingstone a bag of letters which had 
been lying for months at Unyanyembe, 
and the doctor had many questions to ask, 
which passed the afternoon and evening,, 

One morning they embarked in a 
large canoe, lent by one of the Arab 
gentlemen of the place, and steered 
iiorthward, keeping close to the shore, 
' ' with a range of hills, beautifully 
wooded and clothed with green grass, 
sloping abruptly, almost precipitously, 
into the depths of the fresh-water sea, 
towering immediately above us, and as 
we rounded the several capes or points, 
roused expectations of some new won- 
der, or some exquisite picture. Nor 
were we disappointed. 

Gardens and Palmy Forests. 

"From Bagamoyo to Ujiji I had seen 
nothing to compare to them — these 
fishing settlements under the shade of 
palms and plantains, banians, and mi- 
mosa, with cassava gardens to the right 
and left of palmy forests, and patches 
of luxuriant grain looking down upon 
the quiet bay." 

The northern shores of the lake were 
flat, with many reed-beds, and croco- 
diles were numerous, though on the 
southern portion they were seldom 
seen. Skirting these marshy shores, 
the explorers reached the western side 
of the lake, which rose much more 
loftily and precipitously than the east- 
ern. On the 1 2th of December they 
regained Ujiji, from which they had 
been absent twenty-eight days. Liv- 



LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



271 



ingstone then commenced writing let- 
ters, and copying memoranda of his 
explorations and discoveries into his 
journ^al, which, with the letters, Stanley 
was to take to England on his return. 

"I sketched him," says the latter, 
"while sitting in his shirt-sleeves in 
the verandah, with his diary on his 
knee, as he pondered on what he had 
witnessed during his long marches." 

Livingstone and Stanley left Ujiji in 
company on the 27th of November 
with the British and American flags 
waving at the prows of the two large 
canoes lent them by the friendly Arabs. 
Skirting the eastern shore in a south- 
ward direction, the travellers landed at 
Urimba, and, after waiting to be joined 
by those of their followers who had 
gone by land, started up the valley of 
the Loajeri for Unyanyembe. It was 
soon found that the guide knew nothing 
about the road, notwithstanding his 
voluble assurances that Jie was well 
acquainted with the topography of all 
of the surrounding country. Stanley 
therefore put himself at the head of 
the caravan, and led a due easterly 
course, as indicated by the compass. 

Stanley and the Elephant. 
One day, about a fortnight after their 
departure from Ujiji, and when food 
was becoming scarce, Stanley took his 
rifle and strolled up a picturesque ra- 
vine in quest of game. Advancing 
through thick forests, he suddenly found 
himself confronted with a huge ele- 
phant. "Methought," says the travel- 
ler, "when I saw his trunk stretched 
forward, like a warning finger, that I 
heard a voice say, ' Siste^ vena tor P 
But whether it did not proceed from 
my imagination — no, I believe it pro- 



ceeded from one of my party, who 
nnist have shouted ' Lo, an elephant ! 
an elephant, my master ! ' for the young 
rascal had fled as soon as he witnessed 
the awful colossus in such close vicin- 
age. Recovering from my astonish- 
ment, I thought it prudent to retire 
also. As I looked behind, I saw him 
waving his trunk, which I understood 
to mean, ' Good bye, young fellow ! It 
is lucky for you you went in time, for 
I was going to pound you to a jelly.' " 

Had to Live on Mushrooms. 

Tracks of animals were frequently 
observed, but, it being the rainy season, 
the game was scattered, and none could 
be procured. Persistently holding an 
easterly course, Stanley led the way 
over ridge after ridge, seeing rivers 
foaming and brawling through narrow 
beds that in summer were dry, and on 
the ninth day of the march saw Mag- 
dala Mount, bearing north-east, and 
knew that they were approaching Im- 
rera. 

Rain had fallen every day, and a veil 
of grey haze hung over the forest. 
Mushrooms were abundant, and for the 
last day or two constituted the travel- 
lers' only food. Arrived at Imrera, the 
natives crowded around them with sup- 
plies and congratulations ; but they 
halted only a day there, and on the 19th 
two zebras fell to Stanley's rifle, and 
the caravan was again joyous. 

On the 31st they met a caravan on its 
way from Unyanyembe to Ujiji, and 
learned the death of Shaw at the former 
place, the result of fever, rendered fatal 
by intemperance. The Gombe was 
reached on the 7th of February, and 
they camped near one of its largest 
lakes, which is several miles in length, 



272 



UVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



and swarms with hippopotami and croc- 
odiles. Here numerous imprints of 
lions' feet were observed, besides those 
of elephants, rhinoceri, hogs, and ante- 
lopes ; and on the following day, while 
looking for game, Stanley was startled 
by the roaring of three lions, apparently 
close at hand. 

Bounded into the Forest. 

Instinctively cocking his rifle, he 
glanced keenly around, and detected, 
not the lions, but a large antelope, 
which stood trembling, as if it dreaded 
the fatal spring of the forest lords- 
Stanley fired, and the antelope gave a 
tremendous bound, and rushed into the 
forest, where, though wounded, as 
shown by its bloody trail, it disappeared. 
The report seemed to have scared the 
lions, for they were not seen or heard 
again. 

Unyanyembe was reached on the i8th 
of February, and the valley of Khiwhara 
entered with flags flying and guns firing. 
Stanley's first act was to raise a monu- 
ment over the grave of Shaw. Fifty 
men were engaged for two days in 
bringing rocks to the spot, with which 
a cairn eight feet long and five broad 
was constructed, which lyivingstone 
said would ever afterwards be known as 
the grave of the first white man who 
had died in Unyamwezi. 

Stanley remained in his old quarters, 
with Livingstone as his guest, until the 
14th of March, when they separated; 
the latter resolved not to leave Africa 
until the mystery of the Nile sources 
was finally cleared up, and the former 
resumed his return journey to Zanzibar. 

On the 27th, when the expedition 
was encamped in the shade of a group 
of colossal baobabs, they were startled 



by the bellowing of war-horns, and at 
first thought that an attack was about 
to be made on the camp. It soon be- 
came known, however, that the alarm 
was on account of the rumored incursion 
of an unfriendly tribe. 

Stanley thus describes the scene which 
this alarm preluded : — " The men rushed 
to their villages, and in a short time 
we saw them arrayed in full fighting 
costume. Feathers of the ostrich and 
the eagle waved over their fronts, or 
the mane of the zebra surrounded their 
heads ; their knees and ankles were 
hung with little bells ; joho robes floated 
behind, from their necks; spears, asse- 
gais, knob-sticks, and bows were flour- 
ished over their heads, or held in their 
right hands, as if ready for hurling. 

A Mimic War. 

' ' On each flank of a large body which 
issued from the principal village, and 
which came at a uniform swinging 
double-quick, the ankle and knee bells 
all chiming in admirable unison, were 
a cloud of skirmishers, consisting of the 
most enthusiastic, who exercised them- 
selves in mimic war as they sped along. 
Column after column, companies from 
every village, hurried past our camp, 
until, probably, there were nearly a 
thousand soldiers gone to the war." At 
nig^htfall these warriors returned from 
the forest. There had been no fighting, 
the alarm having been without founda- 
tion. 

On the 30th the expedition arrived at 
Khonze, and halted near the village, 
while some friendly Wagogo travellers 
who had joined them, settled the cus- 
toms duties, or tribute, with the chief. 
The Wagogos ran back to the halting- 
place, breathless, shouting, "Why do 



tlVlNGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



273 



you lialt here? Do you wish to die? 
These pagans will not take the tribute, 
but they boast they will eat up all your 
cloth." Close upon their heels came 
the chief and his fighting men, all 
armed. 

Stanley ordered his men to load, and 
then strode up to the chief, and asked 
whether he had come to take the cloth 
by force, or would accept quietly what 
was given him. A Wanyamwezi, who 
had instigated the chief to make an ex- 
orbitant demand, was about to speak, but 
Stanley pushed him aside, and threat- 
ened to shoot him first if he was forced 
to fight. The chief laughed at the 
man's discomfiture, and in a short time 
he and Stanley settled the matter to 
their mutual satisfaction. 

Danger of a Massacre. 

Two days afterwards, whilst halting- 
near the village of Mapanga, they were 
surprised by a rush of forty or fifty 
armed men from the jungle, all whoop- 
ing and yelling, and brandishing their 
spears, in a manner unmistakably hos- 
tile. The moment was critical. One 
spear thrown, one musket fired, would 
have been the signal for an onslaught, 
the prelude, perhaps, of a massacre. 

The opposing forces were numeric- 
ally equal ; but Stanley knew that the 
whole of his men could not be relied 
upon for a fight, and prudence united 
with humanity in suggesting an effort 
to settle the cause of quarrel peacefully. 
Without arising from thebaic on which 
he was seated, he desired his flag-bearer 
to inquire whether the chief of the 
Khonze came to rob them. 

"No," replied the chiefi "We don't 

want to rob you, or to stop the road ; 

but we want the tribute." 
18 



" Don't you see us halted, and a bale 
opened to send it?" said Stanley, direct- 
ing his attention to a bale of goods 
which had just been opened. "We 
have halted so far from your village 
that, when the tribute is settled, we 
may proceed on our way, as the day is 
yet young." 

The chief laughed, and explained in 
his turn that, as he and his men were 
cutting wood for a new fence for the vil- 
lage, a lad brought the news that a cara- 
van was about passing through the coun- 
try without stopping. The tribute was 
then settled amicably, and the chief 
begged Stanley to make rain for him, 
as none had fallen for months, and his 
crops were suffering. Our traveller 
told him that, though white men were 
very clever, much superior to the Arabs, 
they could not make rain ; and, though 
disappointed, the chief was satisfied, 
and accompanied the expedition some 
distance to show them the road. 

Memorial to Farquhar. 

On the 7th of April the village was 
reached at which Farquhar had been 
left, and had died a few days afterwards. 
The chief showed Stanley the spot on 
which the corpse had been deposited, 
but not a vestige of the remains could 
be discovered. A mound of stones was 
raised upon the spot, however, as a 
memorial. 

Continuing their journey, they found 
the river Mukondokwa so swelled by 
the rains that it swept through the val- 
ley like a torrent, while the fields were 
flooded, and every nullah was a stream. 
Three times the foaming flood was 
crossed at the fords by the help of ropes 
fastened to the trees on either bank. 
Rain descended heavily every day, and 



2r4 



WVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



the drenched travellers had to wade 
through the floods or tramp through 
dripping jungles. 

On the 13th they reached a river 
which, though narrow, was too deep to 
be fordable. They had to halt, there- 
fore, and fell a tree, which they con- 
trived should fall across the stream, and 
along this Stanley led the way, the rest 
following by bestriding the tree and 
pushing their bales and boxes before 
them. One young fellow, who was 
carrying on his head the box containing 
Ivivingstone's letters and journals, im- 
pelled by excess of zeal or reckless 
bravado, plunged into the stream. 
Stanley watched him in an agony of 
fear. Suddenly the man, stepping into 
a hole, was immersed up to his chin. 

A Frightened Negro. 

"lyook out!" exclaimed Stanley, 
pointing a revolver at him; "Drop 
that box and I'll shoot you !" All the 
men stood still, or motionless bestrode 
their primitive bridge, to gaze at their 
imperiled companion. The frightened 
negro was grey with fear, but making 
a desperate effort, he got the precious 
box across in safety. 

An hour afterwards they came to the 
river of which this stream was a branch, 
and found it a broad flood of brown 
and foaming water. They constructed 
a raft, by cutting down four trees and 
lashing them together, but it sank as 
soon as it was launched. All their 
ropes were then tied together, making 
a line 180 feet long, one end of which 
was tied round a strong swimmer, who 
undertook to lash it to a tree on the 
other side. 

The negro, strong swimmer as he 
was, was carried far down the stream. 



but he succeeded in gaining the 
opposite bank, and securing the rope 
to a tree. By means of the rope 
both men and baggage were dragged 
through the water, the more valuable 
boxes being conveyed upon a sort of 
light hand-barrow resting upon men's 
shoulders. 

The River Rising. 

A superficial knowledge of the phy- 
sical geography of Africa scarcely pre- 
pares us for such scenes as meet the 
eye of the traveller in the rainy season. 
"Within twenty feet of our camp," 
says Stanley, "was a rising river, with 
flat, low banks ; above us was a gloomy, 
weeping sky ; surrounding us on three 
sides was an immense forest, on whose 
branches we heard the constant patter- 
ing rain ; beneath our feet was a great 
depth of mud, black and loathsome. 
Add to these the thought that the river 
might overflow and sweep us to utter 
destruction." The strong current of the 
Makata, fifty yards wide, was crossed 
by swimming, and on the 29th the ex- 
pedition was at Simbimwenni, where 
the flooded Ungerengeri had swept away 
the whole of the river wall and about 
fifty houses. Many of the inhabitants 
had been drowned, and the rest had 
abandoned the place, of which a hurri- 
cane had made a wreck. 

The rain had now ceased, but the 
jungle was a pestiferous swamp, where 
huge snakes hung upon the branches 
of trees, and land-crabs, scorpions, and 
innumerable creeping things, swarmed 
upon the black mud beneath. On the 
4tli of May the expedition was within 
four miles of Bagamoyo, but that space 
was covered with flood- water, and they 
had to camp on its western margin 



UVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. 



275 



until canoes could be brought to ferry 
them over. 

Bagamoyo was entered at sunset on 
the 6th, the arrival being signalized by 
the firing of guns and much shouting 
and gesticulating, after the manner of 
the country. Arabs and Hindoos, Be- 
loochees and negroes, thronged about 
the men who had performed such a 
wonderful march, and when they had 
reached the centre of the town, Stanley 
was greeted and congratulated by Lieu- 
tenant Henn, of the Livingstone Relief 



Expedition, which was to have done 
what had already been accomplished 
by Stanley ; by Mr. Oswald Livingstone, 
the doctor's son; and the Rev. Charles 
New, the missionary. 

The long march was ended, and on 
the day after his arrival at Bagamoyo 
the Arab dhow which conveyed the ex- 
pedition back to Zanzibar, anchored in 
the harbor. Soon afterward Stanley 
returned to relate his wonderful ad- 
ventures and discoveries in Central 
Africa. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Stanley's Great Journeys Across Africa. 




B have now to describe one of 
the most extraordinary, if 
not actually the greatest feat 
ever performed in the annals of modern 
exploration. This expedition under- 
talien by Henry M. Stanley from Zan- 
zibar right across the African continent 
to the Congo, was so full of perilous 
adventure, so remarkable for pluck and 
resolution, that it stands out boldly 
upon the canvas of history as the 
greatest achievement of our times. 

Stanley's own account of what pre- 
ceded his great undertaking is full of 
interest : " While returning to England 
in April, 1874, from the Ashantee War 
the news reached me that I^ivingstone 
was dead — that his body was on its way 
to England ! lyivingstone had then 
fallen ! He was dead ! He had died 
by the shores of I^ake Bemba, on the 
threshold of the dark region he wished 
to explore ! The work he had promised 
to perform was only begun when death 
overtook him ! 

" The effect which this news had 
upon me, after the first shock passed 
away, was to fire me with a resolution 
to complete his work, to be, if God 
willed it, the next martyr to geograph- 
ical science, or, if my life was to be 
spared, to clear up not only the secrets 
of the Great River throughout its 
course, but also all that remained still 
problematic and incomplete of the dis- 
coveries of Burton and Speke, and 
Speke and Grant. 

*'The solemn day of the burial of 
276 



the body of my great friend arrived. 
I was one of the pall-bearers in West- 
minster Abbey, and when I had seen 
the cofiin lowered into the grave, and 
had heard the first handful of earth 
thrown over it, I walked away sorrow- 
ing over the fate of David lyiving- 
stone." 

Soon the resolve was formed to com- 
plete, if possible, the work Livingstone 
had been compelled to leave undone. 
In this memorable expedition the 
" Daily Telegraph," of London, and 
the "New York Herald" newspapers 
were associated. Mr. Stanley was com- 
missioned to complete the discoveries 
of Speke, Burton, and Livingstone. His 
party from England consisted of Francis 
and Edward Pocock and Frederick 
Barker. A barge, named the Lady 
Alice, was taken in sections, besides 
two other boats, with a perfect equip- 
ment. When all preparations had been 
completed, and the farewell dinners 
eaten, Stanley left England, to begin 
his perilous journey, on the 15 th of 
August, 1874. 

He reached Zanzibar September 21st, 
1874, and there found many former 
associates of his search for Doctor Liv- 
ingstone. He engaged quite a little 
army of followers to go with him and 
carry the outfit. This outfit, which 
consisted of a most miscellaneous col- 
lection of articles, weighed 18,000 
pounds, and was, with the party, car- 
ried across to the continent from Zanzi- 
bar island in six Arab vessels. On the 




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I- s 

< D 

O or 

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STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



277 



morning of the 17th of November the 
start was made into the interior. 

The first stage of this journey was to 
the Victoria Nyanza, which Stanley 
desired to explore. The imperfect de- 
scription and explanations of previous 
travellers had left much to be decided 
concerning this great inland sea. "Was 
it the source of the Nile or of the 
Congo?" "Was it part of a lake system, 
or a lake by itself?" These questions 
Stanley had deteimined to answer once 
for all. 

Many Adventures. 

The advance to the great Lake Vic- 
toria was full of adventurous interest. 
Travelling in the "Dark Continent^' 
means being at times in the wilderness 
without a guide, or with traitors acting 
as guides, which is a worse alternative. 
This was Stanley's fate, and he was 
deserted in the waste with a small stock 
of food. Through the terrible ' 'jungle' ' 
the men had to crawl, cutting their 
way, guided solely by the compass, 
overcome by hunger and thirst, deser- 
tions frequent, sickness stalking along- 
side. This was indeed ' ' famine-stricken 
Ugogo." 

While on this disastrous march he 
lost five of his people, who " wandered 
on helplessly, fell down, and died." 
The country produced no food, or even 
game, unless lions could be so called. 
Two young lions were found in a den, 
and were quickly killed and eaten. 
This was the only food for the whole 
expedition ! Stanley tells us how he 
returned to camp, and was so struck by 
the pinched jaws of his followers that 
he nearly wept. He decided to utilize his 
precious medical stores, and wisely, for 
the people were famishing ; medicinal 



comforts for the dead had no meaning. 
So he made a quantity of gruel, which 
kept the expedition alive for eight and 
forty hours, and then the men he had 
despatched to Suma for provisions re- 
turned with food. Refreshed they all 
marched on, so that they might reach 
Suma next morning. 

Hostile Natives. 

After proceeding twenty miles, they 
came to the cultivated districts and en- 
camped. But the natives of Suma 
were hostile, and the increasing sick 
list made a four days' halt necessary. 
There were thirty men ailing from vari- 
ous diseases. Edward Pocock was taken 
ill here, and on the fourth day he be- 
came delirious ; but the increasing sus- 
picions of the natives — who are repre- 
sented as a very fine race — made depart- 
ure necessary, and so a start was made 
on the i/tli of January, in very hostile 
company. 

The famine in Ugogo had severely 
tried every man's constitution, and all 
felt weak in spirit if not ill in body. 
" Weary, harassed, feeble creatures,*-" 
they reached Chiwyu, four hundre*! 
miles from the sea, and camped nea_ 
the crest of a hill 5,400 feet high. 
Here Edward Pocock breathed his last. 
He was laid under an acacia, and upon 
the trunk of this fine old tree a cross 
was cut deeply, in memory of a faith- 
ful follower. 

Hence two rivulets run, gradually 
converging, and finally uniting into a 
stream which trends toward Lake Vic- 
toria. So here the extreme southern 
sources of the Nile were discovered ; but 
up to this point the explorer had, as he 
said, "child's play," to what he after- 
wards encountered. We have already 



278 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



seen what this child's play was like. 
Stanley proceeded gently to Vinyata, 
where the expedition arrived on the 
2ist of January, 1875. Here a magic 
doctor paid Stanley a visit, and cast 
longing eyes at the stores. 

Next day, after the departure of the 
magic doctor, who came for another 
present, the natives showed hostile 



cowardice the wish for peace. There 
were so many tempting articles too — 
stores dear to the native mind, which the 
inhabitants coveted. No peace would 
be made at any price, and the savages 
attacked the camp in force. 

Stanley disposed his men behind 
hastily-erected earthworks and other 
shelter, and used the sections of the 




FIERCE ATTACK BY NATIVES UPON THE EXPLORERS. 



symptoms. One hundred ,_^k savages, 
armed and in warlike costume, came 
around, shouting and brandishing their 
weapons. At this juncture Stanley, fol- 
lowing Livingstone's practice, decided 
to make no counter demonstration ; but 
to remain quiet in camp, and provoke 
no hostility. This plan did not answer, 
however. The natives mistook for 



L-ady Alice barge as a citadel for 
final occupation. There were only sev- 
enty effective men to defend the camp 
but these were divided into detachments 
and subdivided. One sub-detachment 
was quickly destroyed, and in the day^s 
fight twenty-one soldiers and one mes- 
senger were killed — three wounded. 
Stanley's men, however, pursued the 



STANLEY S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



279 



retreatingf enemy, and burned many vil- 
lages, the men bringing in cattle and 
grain as spoils. Next day the natives 
came on again, but they were quickly 
routed, and the expedition continued 
its way through the now desolate 
valley unmolested. So the Iturnians 
were punished, after three days of 
battle. 

Losses of the Expedition, 

The victory, however, had not been 
mtich to boast of. After only three 
months' march, the expedition had lost 
1 20 Africans and one European, from 
the effects of sickness and battle. There 
were now only 194 men left of 356 who 
had set out with the expedition. They 
passed on, however, toward the Victoria 
Nyanza, and after escaping the warlike 
Mirambo, who fought everybody on 
principle, Stanley reached Kagehyi on 
the 27th of February. He was now 
close to the Lake, having marched 720 
miles ; average daily march, ten miles. 

On the 8th of March Stanley, leaving 
F. Pocock to command the camp, set 
forth with eleven men in the Lady 
Alice, to explore the Lake and ascer- 
tain whether it is one of a series, as Dr. 
Livingstone said it was. The explorer 
began by coasting Speke Gulf. Many 
interesting observations were made. He 
penetrated into each little bay and creek, 
finding indications that convinced him 
that the slave trade is carried on there. 
But the explorer had to battle for his 
information. Near Chaga the natives 
came down, and, after inducing him 
to land, attacked him; but Stanley 
"dropped" one man, and the natives 
subsided. On another occasion the 
natives tried to entrap him, but he es- 
caped by firing on the savages, killing 



three men, and sinking their canoes 
with bullets from an elephant rifle. 

Continuing his course now unop- 
posed, Stanley coasted along the Uganda 
shore. Just as he was about to depart, 
on the following morning, he perceived 
six beautiful canoes, crowded with men, 
all dressed in white, approaching ; they 
were the king's people conveying a 
messenger from the King of Uganda to 
Stanley, begging a visit from him. 
This messenger was gorgeously arrayed 
for the important occasion ; he wore a 
bead-worked head-dress, above which 
long white cock's feathers waved, and 
a snowy white and long-haired goat- 
skin, intertwined with a crimson robe, 
depending from his shoulders, com- 
pleted his costume. Approaching Stan- 
ley, he delivered his message thus : 

Invitation from a King. 

" The Kabaka (King) sends me with 
many salaams to you. He is in great 
hopes that you will visit him, and has en- 
camped at Usavara, that he may be near 
the lake when you come. He does not 
know from what land you have come, 
but I have a swift messenger with a 
canoe who will not stop until he gives 
all the news to the Kabaka. His 
mother dreamed a dream a few nights 
asfo, and in her dream she saw a white 
man on this lake in a boat coming this 
way, and the next morning she told the 
Kabaka, and lo ! you have come. Give 
me your answer, that I may send the 
messenger. Twiyanzi-yanzi-yanzi !" 
(Thanks, thanks, thanks.) 

Thus delivering himself, the messen- 
ger, whose name was Magassa, implored 
Stanley to remain one day longer, that 
he might show him the hospitalities of 
his country, and prepare him for a grand 



280 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



reception by the king, to which Stanley 
consented. 

Magassa was in his glory now. His 
7oice became imperious to his escort of 
182 men; even the feathers of his cur- 
ious head-dress waved prouder, and his 
rcbe had a sweeping dignity worthy of 
a Roman emperor's. Upon landing, Ma- 
gassa's stick was employed frequently. 
The sub-chief of Kadzi was compelled 
to yield implicit obedience to his vice- 
regal behests. 

" Bring out bullocks, sheep, and goats, 
milk, and the mellowest of your choice 
bananas, and great jars of maramba, and 
let the white man and his boatmen eat, 
and taste the hospitalities of Uganda. 
Shall a white man enter the Kabaka's 
presence with an empty belly? See 
how sallow and pinched his cheeks are. 
We want to see whether we can show 
him a kindness superior to what the 
pagans have shown him." 

The Explorer Feted. 

Five canoes escorted the travellers to 
Usavara, the capital of King Mtesa. 
The explorer was most kindly received, 
and closely questioned upon subjects of 
so diverse a character as to remind 
Stanley of a college examination for a 
degree. 

King Mtesa appeared quite a civil- 
ized monarch, quite a different being 
from what he had been when Speke 
and Grant had visited him as a young 
man. He had become an adherent of 
Mahomet, wore Arab dress, and con- 
ducted himself well. He entertained 
Stanley with reviews of canoes, a naval 
"demonstration" of 84 "ships" and 
2,500 men ! Shooting matches, parades, 
and many other civilized modes of enter- 
tainment were practiced for the amuse- 



ment of the white man. In Uganda the 
traveller is welcomed, and perfectly safe. 
King Mtesa's country is situated on 
the equator, and is a much more pleas- 
ant land than might be supposed from 
its geographical position, being fertile, 
and covered with vegetation. It is a 
peculiarly pleasant land for a traveller, 
as it is covered with roads, which are 
not only broad and firm, but are cut 
almost in a straight line from one point 
to another. 

Good Roads. 

Uganda seems to be unique in the 
matter of roads, the like of which are 
not to be found in any part of Africa, 
except those districts which are held by 
Europeans. The roads are wide enough 
for carriages, but far too steep in places 
for any wheeled conveyance; but as 
the Waganda (the name given to the 
inhabitants of Uganda) do not use car- 
riages of any kind, the roads are amply 
sufficient for their purposes. The Wa- 
ganda have even built bridges across 
swamps and rivers, but their knowl- 
edge of engineering has not enabled 
them to build a bridge that would not 
decay in a few years. 

Like many other tribes which bear, 
but do not deserve, the name of sav- 
ages, the Waganda possess a curiously 
strict code of etiquette, which is so 
stringent on some points that an offen- 
der against it is likely to lose his life, 
and is sure to incur a severe penalty. 
If, for example, a man appears before 
the king with his dress tied carelessly, 
or if he makes a mistake in the mode 
of saluting, or if, in squatting before 
his sovereign, he allows the least por- 
tion of his limbs to be visible, he is led 
off to instant execution. 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



281 



As the fatal sign is given, the victim 
is seized by the royal pages, who wear 
a rope turban around their heads, aud 
at the same moment all the drums and 
other instruments strike up, to drown 
his cries for mercy. He is rapidly 
bound with the ropes snatched hastily 
from the heads of the pages, dragged 
off, and put to death, no one daring to 
take the least notice while the tragedy 
is being enacted. 

Token of Royal Birth. 

They have also a code of sumptuary 
laws which is enforced with the greatest 
severity. The skin of the serval, a kind 
of leopard cat, for example, may only 
be worn by those of royal descent. 
Once Captain Speke was visited by a 
very agreeable young man, who evi- 
dently intended to strike awe into the 
white man, and wore round his neck 
the serval-skin emblem of royal birth. 
The attempted deception, however, re- 
coiled upon its author, who suffered the 
fate of the daw with the borrowed 
plumes. An officer of rank detected 
the imposture, had the young man 
seized, and challenged him to show 
proofs of his right to wear the emblem 
of royalty. As he failed to do so, he 
was threatened with being brought 
before the king, and so compounded 
with the chief for a fine of a hundred 
cows. 

Mtesa was a complete African Blue- 
beard, continually marrying and kill- 
ing, the brides, however, exceeding the 
victims in number. Royal marriage 
is a very simple business in Uganda. 
Parents who have offended their king 
and want to pacify him, or who desire 
to be looked on favorably by him, bring 
their daughters and offer them as he sits 



at the door of his house. As is the case 
with all his female attendants, they are 
totally unclothed, and stand before the 
king in ignorance of their future. 

If he accepts them, he makes them 
sit down, seats himself on their knees, 
and embraces them. This is the whole 
of the ceremony, and as each girl is 
thus accepted, the happy parents per- 
form the curious salutation called 
"n'yanzigging," that is, prostrating 
themselves on the ground, floundering 
about, clapping their hands, and ejacu- 
lating the word "n'yans," or thanks, 
as fast as they can say it. 

Brides by the Wholesale. 

Twenty or thirty brides will some- 
times be presented to him in a single 
morning, and he will accept more than 
half of them, some of them being after- 
ward raised to the rank of wives, while 
the others are relegated to the position 
of attendants. 

Now and then the king held a review, 
in which the valiant and the cowards 
obtained their fitting rewards. These 
reviews offered most picturesque scenes. 
" Before us was a large open sward, 
with the huts of the queen's Kamra- 
viono or commander-in-chief beyond. 
The battalion, consisting of what might 
be termed three companies, each con- 
taining two hundred men, being drawn 
up on the left extremity of the parade 
ground, received orders to march past 
in single file from the right of com- 
panies at a long trot, and re-form again 
at the end of the square. 

" Nothing conceivable could be more 
wild or fantastic than the sight which 
ensued; the men were all nearly naked, 
with goat or cat skins depending from 
their girdles, and smeared with war 



282 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



colors, according to the taste of the 
individual ; one-half of the body red or 
black, the other blue, not in regular 
order; as, for instance, one stocking 
would be red, and the other black, 
whilst the breeches above would be the 
opposite colors, and so with the sleeves 
and waistcoat. 

"Every man carried the same arms, 
two spears and one shield, held as if 
approaching an enemy, and they thus 
moved in three lines of single rank and 
file, at fifteen or twenty paces asunder, 
with the same high action and elongated 
step, the ground leg only being bent, to 
give their strides the greater force. 

Fantastic Parade. 

"After the men had all started, the 
captains of companies followed; even 
more fantastically dressed ; and last of 
all came the great Colonel Congow, a 
perfect Robinson Crusoe, with his long 
white-haired goat-skins, a fiddle-shaped 
leather shield, tufted with hair at all six 
extremities, bands of long hair tied 
below the knees, and a magnificent 
helmet covered with rich beads of every 
color in excellent taste, surmounted 
with a plume of crimson feathers, in 
the centre of which rose a bent stem 
tufted with goat's hair. Next, they 
charged in companies to and fro, and 
finally the senior officers came charg- 
ing at their king, making violent pro- 
fessions of faith and honesty, for which 
they were applauded. The parade then 
broke up, and all went home." 

Stanley, after remaining some time 
with Mtesa, departed in October to ex- 
plore the country lying between Albert 
Nyanza and the Victoria Nyanza. This 
time he had with him an escort of 
Mtesa's men, under a " general " named 



Sambusi. The expedition, after a pleas- 
ant march, came within a few miles of 
the Albert Nyanza, but then the native 
warriors wished to return, and Stanley 
yielded perforce. He returned, but the 
faint-hearted ' ' general ' ' was put in 
irons by Mtesa, whom he had shamed. 

Imposing Ceremonies. 

The expedition reached Mtesa's on 
the 23d of August, and the king re- 
ceived Stanley in his council chamber 
with great ceremony and many evi- 
dences of friendship. Stanley took this 
occasion to inform him of the object of 
his visit, which was to procure guides 
and an escort to conduct him to Albert 
Lake. 

Mtesa replied that he was now en- 
gaged in a war with the rebellious 
people of Uvuma, who refused to pay 
their tribute, harassed the coast of 
Chagwe and abducted his people, "sell- 
ing them afterward for a few bunches 
of bananas," and it was not customary 
in Uganda to permit strangers to pro- 
ceed on their journeys while the king 
was engaged in war; but as soon as 
peace should be obtained he would 
send a chief with an army to give him 
safe conduct by the shortest route to- 
the lake. Being assured that the war 
would not last long, Stanley resolved 
to stay and witness it as a novelty, and 
take advantage of the time to acquire 
information about the country and its 
people. 

On the 27th of August Mtesa struck 
his camp, and began the march to Na- 
karanga, a point of land lying within 
seven hundred yards of the island of 
Ingira, which had been chosen by the 
Wavuma as their depot and stronghold. 
He had collected an army numbering 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



183 



150,000 warriors, as it was expected 
that he would have to fight the rebel- 
lious Wasoga as well as the Wavuma. 
Besides this great army must be reck- 
oned nearly 50,000 women, and about 
as many children and slaves of both 
sexes, so that at a rough guess, after 
looking at all the camps and vari- 
ous tributary nations which, at Mte- 
sa's command, had contributed their 
quotas, the number of souls in Mte- 
sa's camp must have been about 250,- 
000! 

Stanley had the pleasure of review- 
ing this immense army as it was put in 
motion towards the battle-ground. He 
describes the officers and troops in the 
following graphic style : 

"The advance-guard had departed 
too early for me to see them, but, cur- 
ious to see the main body of this great 
army pass, I stationed myself at an early 
hour at the extreme limit of the camp. 

"Brave as a Lion." 
"First with his legion, came Mkwe- 
nda, who guards the frontier between 
the Katonga valley and Willimiesi 
against the Wanyoro. He is a stout, 
burly young man, brave as a lion, hav- 
ing much experience of wars, and cun- 
ning and adroit in his conduct, accom- 
plished with the spear, and possessing, 
besides, other excellent fighting qual- 
ities. I noticed that the Waganda 
chiefs, though Muslimized, clung to 
their war-paint and national charms, 
for each warrior, as he passed by on the 
trot, was most villainously bedaubed 
with ochre and pipe-clay. The force 
under the command of Mkwenda might 
be roughly numbered at 30,000 warriors 
and camp-followers, and though the 
path was a mere goat-track, the rush of 



this legion on the half-trot soon crushed 
out a broad avenue. 

"The old general Kangau, who de- 
fends the country between Willimiesi 
and the Victoria Nile, came next with 
his following, their banners flying, 
drums beating, and pipes playing, he 
and his warriors stripped for action, their 
bodies and faces daubed with white, 
black, and ochreous war-paint. 

Splendid Warriors. 

"Next came a rush of about 2,000 
chosen warriors, all tall men, expert 
with spear and shield, lithe of body and 
nimble of foot, shouting as they trotted 
past their war-cry of ' Kavya, kavya ' 
(the two last syllables of Mtesa's title 
when young — Mukavya, 'king'), and 
rattling their spears. Behind them, at 
a quick march, came the musket-armed 
body-guard of the emperor, about two 
hundred in front, a hundred on either 
side of the road, enclosing Mtesa and 
his Katekiro, and two hundred bring- 
ing up the rear, with their drums beat- 
ing, pipes playing, and standards flying, 
and forming quite an imposing and war- 
like procession. 

" Mtesa marched on foot, bare-headed, 
and clad in a dress of blue check cloth, 
with a black belt of Bnglish make 
round his waist, and — like the Roman 
emperors, who, when returning in tri- 
umph, painted their faces a deep Ver- 
million — his face dyed a bright red. 
The Katekiro preceded him, and wore 
a dark-grey cashmere coat I think 
this arrangement was made to deceive 
any assassin who might be lurking in 
the bushes. If this was the case the 
precaution seemed wholly unnecessary, 
as the march was so quick that nothing 
but a gun would have been efiective. 



284 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA-. 



and the Wavuma and Wasoga have no 
such weapons. 

"After Mtesa's body-guard had passed 
by, chief after chief, legion after legion, 
followed, each distinguished to the na- 
tive ear by its dififerent and peculiar 
•ilrum-beat. They came on at an ex- 
traordinary pace, more like warriors 
hurrying up into action than on the 
march, and it is their custom, I am 
told, to move always at a trot when on 
an enterprise of a warlike nature." 

A Big War-Boat. 

In the ensuing conflict King Mtesa's 
army was repulsed. Stanley finally 
asked of him 2,000 men, telling him 
that with this number he would con- 
struct a monster war-boat that would 
drive the enemy from their stronghold. 

This proposition gave Mtesa intense 
delight, for he had begun to entertain 
grave doubts of being able to subjugate 
the brave rebels. The 2,000 men being 
furnished, Stanley set them to cutting 
trees and poles, which were peeled and 
the bark used for ropes. He lashed 
three canoes, of seventy feet length and 
six-and-a-half feet breadth, four feet 
from each other. Around the edge of 
these he caused a stockade to be made of 
strong poles, set in upright and then 
intertwined with smaller poles and rope 
bark. 

This made the floating stockade sev- 
enty feet long and twenty-seven feet 
wide, and so strong that spears could 
not penetrate it. This novel craft 
floated with much grace, and as the 
men paddled in the spaces between the 
boats they could not be perceived by 
the enemy, who thought it must be pro- 
pelled by some supernatural agency. 
It was manned by two hundred and 



fourteen persons, and moved across the 
channel like a thing of life. 

As this terrible monster of the deep 
approached the enemy, Stanley caused 
a proclamation to be made to them, in 
deep and awful tones, that if they did 
not surrender at once their whole island 
would be blown to pieces. This strata- 
gem had the desired effect ; the Wavu- 
ma were terror-stricken and surrendered 
unconditionally. Two hours later they 
sent a canoe and fifty men with the 
tribute demanded. Thus ended the 
war and preparations were at once made 
to advance. 

Stanley turned toward Lake Tangan- 
yika, and camped at Ujiji, where he 
had met David Livingstone. Thence 
he journeyed to Nyangwe, the farthest 
northern place attained by Cameron. 
Cameron had gone south to Benguela. 

Famous Tipo-tipo. 

While in the vicinity of Nyangwe, 
Stanley chanced to meet the famous 
trader, Tipo-tipo, who had befriended 
Cameron while on his journey, having 
conducted him as far as Kasongo's 
country. From him he learned that 
Cameron had been unable to explore 
the Lualaba, and thus the work which 
Livingstone had not been able to com- 
plete was as yet unfinished. 

Not believing, as Livingstone did, 
that the Lualaba was the remote south- 
ern branch of the Nile, but having the 
same conviction as Cameron, that it was 
connected with the Congo, and was 
the eastern part of that river, and hav- 
ing, what I/ivingstone and Cameron had 
not, an ample force and sufficient sup- 
plies, he determined to follow the Lu- 
alaba, and ascertain whither it led. 
He met with the same difficulty that 




THOMAS A. EDISON IN HIS IvABORATORY 



STANI^EY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



285 



Livingstone and Cameron encountered 
in the unwillingness of the people to 
supply canoes. 

They informed him, as they had the 
two previous explorers, that the tribes 
dwelling to the north on the lyualaba 
were fierce and warlike cannibals, who 
would suffer no one to enter their terri- 
tories, as the Arab traders had fre- 
quently found to their cost. That be- 
tween Nyangwe and the cannibal region 
the natives were treacherous, and that 
the river ran through dreadful forests, 
through which he would have to make 
his way — information which afterwards 
proved to be true. 

The Terrible Dwarfs. 

He nevertheless resolved to go ; but 
it was not easily accomplished, as the 
people of Nyangwe filled his followers 
with terror by the accounts they gave 
of the ferocious cannibals, the dwarfs 
with poisoned arrows who dwelt near 
the river, and the terrible character of 
the country through which they would 
have to pass ; which had such a dis- 
heartening effect upon them that difii- 
culties arose which would have been 
insurmountable to any one but a man 
of Stanley's indomitable perseverance, 
sagacity and tact. He overcame all 
obstacles ; succeeded in getting canoes, 
and in engaging an Arab chief and his 
followers to accompany him a certain 
distance ; an increase of his force which 
gave confidence to his own people. 

Of course there was a good deal of 
palavering before the Arab, Tipo-tipo, 
could be induced to join the expedition 
and brave the inevitable perils that 
would attend it. 

Tipo-tipo listened respectfully to 
Stanley's proposition, and then called 



in one of his officers who had been to 
the far north along the river, requesting 
him to impart such information as he 
possessed in regard to the people inhab- 
iting that country. This man told a 
marvelous tale, almost rivaling the 
wonderful creations of the Arabian 
Nights ; and Stanley subsequently 
learned by his own experience that 
much of the story was true. 

Remarkable Story. 

" The great river," said Tipo-tipo' s 
officer, " goes always towards the north, 
until it empties into the sea. We first 
reached Uregga, a forest land, where 
there is nothing but woods, and woods, 
and woods, for days and weeks and 
months. There was no end to the woods. 
In a month we reached Usongora Meno, 
and here we fought day after day. They 
are fearful fellows and desperate. We 
lost many men, and all who were slain 
were eaten. But we were brave and 
pushed on. 

" When we came to Kima-Kima we 
heard of the land of the little men, 
where a tusk of ivory could be pur- 
chased for a single cowrie (bead). No- 
thinof now could hold us back. We 
crossed the Lumami, and came to the 
land of the Wakuma. The Wakuma 
are big men themselves, but among 
them we saw some of the dwarfs, the 
queerest little creatures alive, just a 
yard high, with long beards and large 
heads. 

" The dwarfs seemed to be plucky 
little devils, and asked us many ques- 
tions about where we were going and 
what we wanted. They told us that in 
their country was so much ivory we 
had not enough men to carry it ; ' but 
what do you want with it, do you eat 



286 



STANLEYS JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



it ?' said they. ' No, we make charms 
of it, and will give you beads to show 
us the way.' 'Good, come along.' 

Must See Their King. 

"We followed the little devils six 
days, when we came to theii country, 
and they stopped and said we could go 
no further until they had seen their 
king. Then they left us, and after 
three days they came back and took us 
to their village, and gave us a house to 
live in. Then the dwarfs came from 
all parts. Oh ! it is a big country 1 and 
everybody brought ivory, until we had 
about four hundred tusks, big and little, 
as much as we could carry. We bought 
it with copper, beads, and cowries. No 
cloths, for the dwarfs were all naked, 
king and all. We did not starve in the 
dwarf land the first ten days. Bananas 
AS long as my arm, and plantains as 
long as the dwarfs were tall. One plan- 
tain was sufficient for a man ^or one 
day. 

" When we had sufficient ivory and 
wanted to go, the little king said no ; 
' this is my country, and you shall not 
go until I say. You must buy all I 
have got; I want more cowries;' and 
he ground his teeth and looked just like 
a wild monkey. We laughed at him, 
for he was very funny, but he would 
not let us go. Presently we heard a 
woman scream, and rushing out of our 
house, we saw a woman running with 
a dwarf's arrow in her bosom. 

"Some of our men shouted, 'The 
dwarfs are coming from all the villages 
in great numbers ; it is war — ^prepare ! ' 
We had scarcely got our guns before 
the little wretches were upon us, 
shooting their arrows in clouds. They 
screamed and yelled like monkeys. 



Their arrows were poisoned, and many 
of our men who were hit, died. 

" Our captain brandished his two- 
handed sword, and cleaved them as you 
would cleave a banana. The arrows 
passed through his shirt in many places. 
We had many good fellows, and they 
fought well ; but it was of no use. The 
dwarfs were firing from the tops of the 
trees ; they crept through the tall grass 
close up to us, and shot their arrows in 
our faces. Then some hundred of us 
cut down banana-trees, tore doors out, 
and houses down, and formed a boma 
at each end ot the street, and then we 
were a little better off", for it was not 
such rapid, random shooting ; we fired 
more deliberately, and after several 
hours drove them off". 

Caught the King. 

' ' But they soon came back and fought 
us all that night, so that we could get 
no water, until our captain — oh ! he was 
a brave man, he was a lion ! — held up 
a shield before him, and looking around, 
he just ran straight where the crowd 
was thickest ; and he seized two of the 
dwarfs, and we who followed him 
caught several more, for they would 
not run away until they saw what our 
design was, and then they left the water 
clear. We filled our pots and carried 
the little Shaitans (devils) into the 
boma ; and there we found that we had 
caught the king. We wanted to kill 
him, but our captain said no, kill the 
others and toss their heads over the 
wall ; but the king was not touched. 

" Then the dwarfs wanted to make 
peace, but they were on us again in the 
middle of the night, and their arrows 
sounded ' twit,' ' twit ' in all directions. 
At last we ran away, throwing down 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



287 



everything but our guns and swords. 
But many of our men were so weak by 
hunger and thirst that they burst their 
hearts running, and died. Others lying 
down to rest found the little devils close 
to them when too late, and were killed. 
Out of our great number of people only 
thirty returned alive, and I am one of 
them." 

Stanley listened with rapt attention 
to the recital of this wonderful story, 
and at its conclusion he said: "Ah! 
good. Did you see anything else very 
wonderful on your journey?" 

Huge Serpents. 

' ' Oh yes ! There are monstrous boa- 
constrictors in the forest of Uregga, 
suspended by their tails to the branches, 
waiting for the passerby or for a stray 
antelope. The ants in that forest are 
not to be despised. You cannot travel 
without your body being covered with 
them, when they sting you like wasps. 
The leopards are so numerous that you 
cannot go very far without seeing one. 
Every native wears a leopardskin cap. 

" The sokos (gorillas) are in the 
woods, and woe befall the man or woman 
met alone by them ; for they run to you 
and seize your hands, and bite the fin- 
gers off one by one, and as fast as they 
bite one off, they spit it out. The 
Wasongora Meno and Waregga are can- 
nibals, and unless the force is very 
strong, they never let strangers pass. It 
is nothing but constant fighting. Only 
two years ago a party armed with three 
hundred guns started north of Uson- 
gora Meno ; they only brought sixty 
guns back, and no ivory. If one tries 
to go by the river, there are falls after 
falls, which carry the people over and 
drown them." 



It required no little heroism on the 
part of Stanley to face the dangers 
which he knew must lie between him 
and that point one thousand eight hun- 
dred miles distant, where the Congo, 
ten miles wide, rolls into the broad 
bosom of the Atlantic. Notwithstand- 
ing all the dangers which lay before 
them, Tipo-tipo agreed to accompany 
Stanley with his soldiers, the distance 
of sixty marches, for $5,000. One would 
naturally suppose that he, of all others, 
would shrink from such a task, seeing 
that in his last eflfort to reach the unex- 
plored territory beyond, he had lost five 
hundred men. 

Exacting Conditions. 

The conditions under which he agreed 
to escort Stanley were, that the sixty 
marches should not consume more than 
three months' time, and if, when they 
had gone that distance, he should come 
to the conclusion that he could not 
reach the mouth of the Congo, then he 
would return to Nyangwe ; or, if he 
chanced to fall in with any Portuguese 
traders, and desired to accompany them 
to the coast, he should give him (Tipo- 
tipo) two-thirds of his force, as a guard 
to protect him while on his return to 
Nyangwe. 

But Stanley did not propose to have 
all the conditions on the side of the 
chief, and after refusing to grant the 
chief two-thirds of his force to protect 
him on his return, he made the follow- 
ing condition : Should Tipo-tipo fail to 
perform faithfully his part, and should 
he through fear return before the sixty 
marches had been made, he should for- 
feit the 1 5, 000, and not be allowed a 
single man of Stanley's force to accom- 
pany him on his return. After some 



288 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



delay the chief assented to the contract 
as written by Stanley, and both men 
signed it. 

Before it had been signed, however, 
Stanley went to Pocock and told him 
just how matters stood, and showed him 
the dangers which must attend any 
attempt to proceed, but could they do 
so, it would draw upon the expedition 
the comments of the entire world. It 
was a fearful risk to run, but Pocock 
resolved to stand by him, and before he 
had finished, the latter replied, "Go 
on." 

Ah, they little knew when they made 
that agreement, what fate awaited them 
in the near future. The men were 
next informed of the determination to 
push on to the coast, and were told that 
if at the end of sixty marches they fell 
in with traders going eastward, and 
they wished to return to Nyangwe they 
could do so. The men promised to 
remain with him, and he hastened to 
complete his arrangements. 

Journey Begun. 

On November 5th Tipo-tipo, with 
seven hundred men joined Stanley, and 
they set out on their journey. Stanley 
now carried the Lady Alice across the 
350 miles which intervened between 
Ujiji and Nyangwe, which is situated 
on the Lualaba (of Livingstone), which 
Stanley as well as Cameron believed 
was a branch of the Congo. We shall 
now follow Stanley briefly in his dis- 
covery along that river, which he had 
determined to explore. 

On the 5th of November he set out. 
He reinforced his following, and took 
supplies for six months. He had with 
him 140 rifles and seventy spearmen 
and could defy the warlike tribes of 



which he had heard so much, and he 
made up his mind to "stick to the 
Lualaba fair or foul ! ' ' For three 
weeks he pushed his way along the 
banks, meeting with tremendous diffi- 
culties, till all became disheartened. 
Stanley said he would try tlie river. 
The Lady Alice was put together and 
launched, and then the leader declared 
he would never quit it until he reached 
the sea. "All I ask," said he to his 
men, "is that you follow me in the 
name of God." 

"In the name of God, master, we 
will follow you," they replied. They 
did, bravely. 

Pai^sing the Rapids, 
A skirmish occurred at the outset, by 
the Ruiki river, and then the Ukassa 
rapids were reached. These were passed 
in safety, one portion of the expedition 
on the bank, the remainder in canoes. 
So the journey continued, but under 
very depressing circumstances, for the 
natives, when not hostile, openly left 
their villages, and would hold no com- 
munication with the strangers. Sick- 
ness was universal. Small-pox, dysen- 
tery, and other diseases raged, and 
every day a body or two was tossed into 
the river. A canoe was found, repaired, 
and constituted the hospital, and so was 
towed down stream. 

On the 8th of December a skirm- 
ish occurred, but speedily ended in 
the defeat of the savages, who had 
used poisoned arrows. At Vinya-Njara 
again, another serious fight ensued, 
the savages rushing against the stock- 
ades which surrounded the camp, 
and displaying great determination. 
The attack was resumed at night. At 
daybreak, a part of the native town 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



289 



was occupied, and there again the figlir- 
ing was continued. The village was 
held, but the natives were still deter- 
mined and again attacked ; the arrows 
fell in clusters, and it was a very critical 
time for the voyagers. 

Mutiny in Camp. 

Fortunately the land division arrived 
and settled the matter ; the savages 
disappeared, and the marching detach- 
ment united with Stanley's crews. That 
night Pocock was sent out to cut away 
the enemy's canoes and that danger was 
over. But now the Arab escort which 
had joined Stanley at Nyangwe became 
rebellious, and infected the rest. Stan- 
ley feared that all his people would 
mutiny, but he managed them with a 
firm and friendly hand. So that danger 
passed. All this time the people had 
been dying of fever, small -pox, and 
poisoned arrows, and the constant at- 
tacks of the enemy prevented burial of 
the dead or attendance on the sick and 
wounded. 

On the 26th of December, after a 
merry Christmas, considering the cir- 
cumstances, the expedition embarked, 
149 in all, and not one deserted. To- 
morrow would echo the cry "Victory 
or Death." The explorers passed into 
the portals of the Unknown, and on 
4th January they reached a series of 
cataracts, now named Stanley Falls. 
This was a cannibal country, and the 
man-eaters hunted the voyagers " like 
game." For four and twenty days the 
conflict continued, fighting, foot by foot, 
the forty miles or so which were cov- 
ered by the cataracts, and which the 
expedition had to follow by land, forag- 
ing, fighting, encamping, dragging the 
fleet of. canoes, all the time with their 
^9 



lives in their hands, cutting their way 
through the forest and their deadly 
enemies. 

Yet as soon as he had avoided the 
cannibals on land, they came after him 
on the water. A flotilla of fifty-four 
canoes, some enormous vessels, with a 
total of nearly two thousand warriors, 
were formidable obstacles in the way. 
But gun-powder won the day, and the 
natives were dispersed with great loss, 
the village plundered of its ivory, which 
was very plentiful, and the expedition 
in all this lost only one man, making 
the sixteenth since the expedition had 
left Nyangwe. 

Grand Cataracts. 

Some of the cataracts Stanley de- 
scribes as magnificent, the current boil- 
ing and leaping in brown waves six 
feet high. The width in places is 2,000 
and 1,300 feet narrowing at the falls. 
After the great naval battle, Stanley 
found friendly tribes who informed him 
the river, the Lualaba, which he had 
named the Livingstone, was surely the 
Congo, or the River of Congo. Here 
was a great geographical secret now 
disclosed, and success seemed certain. 
It was attained, but at a great price, as 
we shall see. More battles followed 
the peaceful days ; then the friendly 
tribes were again met with, and so on, 
until the warfare with man ceased, and 
the struggle with the Congo began in 
earnest. 

There are fifty-seven cataracts and 
rapids in the course of the river from 
Nyangwe to the ocean, a distance of 
eighteen hundred miles. One portion 
of one hundred and eighty miles took 
the explorers five months. The high 
cliSs and the dangerous banks required 



290 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



the greatest caution to pass, and had 
Stanley not determined to cling to the 
river ; had he led his men by land past 
the cataract region, he would have done 
better, as the events prove. During that 
terrible passage he lost precious lives, 
including the brave Pocock and Kalulu 
— the black boy, Stanley's favorite who 
proved to be of great service. 

Livingstone Falls. 

March I2tli found them in a wide 
reach of the river, named Stanley Pool, 
and below that they " for the first time 
heard the low and sullen thunder of 
I/ivingstone Falls." From this date 
the river was the chief enemy, and at 
the cataracts the stream flows "at the 
rate of thirty miles an hour!" The 
canoes suffered or were lost in the 
"cauldron," and portages became nec- 
essary. The men were hurt also ; even 
Stanley had a fall, and was half stunned. 
There were sundry workers, and seven- 
teen canoes remaining on the 27th of 
March. 

The descent was made along the 
shore below Rocky Island Falls, and in 
gaining the camping-place Kalulu, in 
the "Crocodile" canoe, was lost. This 
boat got into mid-stream, and went glid- 
ing over the smooth, swift river to de- 
struction. Nothing could save it or its 
occupants. It whirled round three or 
four times, plunged into the depths, 
and Kalulu and his canoe-mates were 
no more. Nine men, including others 
in other canoes, were lost that day. 

Says Stanley: *^ I led the way down 
the river, and in five minutes was in a 
new camp in a charming cove, with the 
cataract roaring loudly about 500 yards 
below us. A canoe came in soon after 
with a gleeful crew, and a second one 



also arrived safe, and I was about con- 
gratulating myself for having done a 
good day's work, when the long canoe 
which Kalulu had ventured in was seen 
in mid-river, rushing with the speed of 
a flying spear towards destruction. A 
groan of horror burst from us as we 
rushed to the rocky point which shut 
the cove from view of the river. 

"When we had reached the point, 
the canoe was half-way over the first 
break of the cataract, and was then just 
beginning that fatal circling in the 
whirlpool below. We saw them signal- 
ing to us for help ; but alas! what could 
we do there, with a cataract between 
us ? We never saw them more. A pad- 
dle was picked up about forty miles 
below, which we identified as belong- 
ing to the unfortunate coxswain, and 
that was all." 

An Untimely Death. 

Stanley felt this loss keenly, for he 
loved Kalulu almost like a younger 
brother. The boy had been presented 
to him by the Arabs of Unyanyembe on 
the occasion of his first visit there in 
search of lyivingstone. He was then a 
mere child, but very bright and quick 
for one of his race and age. Stanley 
took him to the United States, where 
he attended school eighteen months, 
and rapidly developed into an intelli- 
gent and quick-witted youth. When 
Stanley was preparing for his second 
expedition Kalulu begged to be allowed 
to accompany him, and he cheerfully 
granted the request. His untimely 
death made so deep an impression upon 
Stanley that he named the fatal cataract 
Kalulu Falls in honor of his memory. 

Three out of the four men contained 
in the boat were special favorites of 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



291 



Stanley. They bad been deceived by 
the smooth, glassy appearance of the 
river, and had pulled out boldly into 
the middle of it, only to meet a dreadful 
fate. Even while they gazed upon the 
spot where the frail craft was last seen 
upon the edge of the brink, another 
canoe came into sight, and was hurried 
on by the swift current towards the 
yawning abyss. As good fortune woiild 
have it, they struck the falls at a point 
less dangerous than that struck by the 
unfortunate Kalulu, and passed them 
in safety. Then they worked the canoe 
closer to the shore, and springing over- 
board, swam to the land. If those yet 
to come were to be deceived by the ap- 
pearance of the river, Stanley saw that 
he was destined to lose the greater part 
of his men. 

"I Am Lost, Master." 
In order to prevent so sad a calamity, 
he sent messengers up the river to tell 
those yet to come down to keep close 
to the shore. Before they had time to 
reach those above, another canoe shot 
into sight and was hurried on to the 
edge of the precipice. It contained but 
one person — the lad Soudi, who, as he 
shot by them, cried out : " There is but 
one God — I am lost, master." The next 
instant he passed over the falls. The 
canoe, after having pas.sed the falls, did 
not sink, but was whirled round and 
round by the swift current, and was at 
last swept out of sight behind a neigh- 
boring island. The remainder of the 
canoes succeeded in reaching the camp 
in safety. 

The natives at this point proved very 
friendly, and exchanged provisions for 
beads and wire. Having obtained all the 
provisions that they could conveniently 



carry, they prepared to start, and on 
the first of April succeeded in passing 
round the dangerous falls, when they 
again went int^o camp. A great sur- 
prise awaited them here. They had 
scarcely pitched their tents, when to 
their great surprise Soudi suddenly 
walked into tlie camp. It was as though 
one had indeed risen from the dead, and 
for a few minutes they could scarcely 
realize that it was the real Soudi that 
they beheld, and not his ghost. Great 
was their joy when the lad assured theui 
that it was himself and not his spirit 
that they saw. 

Swam Ashore. 

Seated around their camp they list- 
ened to the strange tale that the boy 
had to tell him. He had been carried 
over the falls, and when he reached the 
bottom he was somewhat stunned by 
the shock, and did not fully recover 
his senses until the boat struck against 
a large rock ; he then jumped out and 
swam ashore. He had hardl)' placed 
his foot upon the land before he was 
seized by two men, who bonnd him 
hand and foot, and carried him to the 
top of a large mountain near by. They 
then stripped him, and examined him 
with great curiosity. On the day fol- 
lowing, a large number of the tribe who 
dwelt upon the mountain came to see 
him, and among them was one who had 
previously visited Stanley's camp, and 
knew that Soudi was attached to his 
force. 

He told them great stories about 
Stanley, how terrible he was, and what 
strange arms he carried, which were so 
arranged that they could be fired all 
day without stopping, and ended by 
telling them that if they wished to es- 



292 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



cape his fury, they had better return 
the boy to the place from which they 
had taken him. Terrified by such tales, 
these men at once carried Soudi to the 
place where they had found him, and 
after having told him to speak a good 
word for them to his master, departed. 
He at once swam across the stream, 
stopping occasionally upon the rocks 
to rest, and succeeded at last in reach- 
ing the camp soon after it had been 
established. His captors, however, did 
not return to their people as he had 
supposed, but crossing the river at a 
point lower down, they soon after ar- 
rived at the camp and attached them- 
selves to Stanley's force. 

Singular Mishap. 

The dangers attending Stanley con- 
stantly in this great journey from sea 
to sea are strikingly illustrated by a 
mishap which befell one of his men in 
that part of the tour we are now de- 
scribing. 

At one point there were many islands 
in the river, which often afforded Stan- 
ley refuge when attacked by the mur- 
derous natives. They appeared very 
beautiful, but the travellers could not 
enjoy their beauty, so frequent were 
the attacks made upon them. Stanley 
visited several villages, in which he 
says he found human bones scattered 
about, just as we would throw away 
oyster shells after we had removed the 
bivalves. Such sights as this did not 
tend to place the men in the most agree- 
able state of mind, for it seemed to 
them just as if they were doomed to a 
similar fate. 

On the following day they began 
to make preparations for passing the 
rapids which lay below them. In order 



to do this, he must first drive back the 
savages which lined the shore. Land- 
ing with thirty-six men, he succeeded 
in doing so, after which he was able to 
cut a passage three miles long around 
the falls. Stations were established at 
different points along the route, and 
before daylight the canoes were safely 
carried to the first of these. 

Hard Travelling. 

The savages then made an attack 
upon them, but were beaten off. At 
night the boats were carried to the next 
station, and the one following to the 
next, and so on, until at the end of 
seventy-eight hours of constant labor, 
and almost unceasing fighting, they 
reached the river. But they had gone 
but a short distance, when they found 
that just before them were a series of 
rapids extending two miles. These 
being much smaller than those they 
had passed before, an attempt was made 
to float the boats down them. 

Six canoes passed the falls in safety, 
but the seventh was upset. One of the 
persons in it was a negro named Zaidi, 
who, instead of swimming to the shore 
as the others did, clung to the boat and 
was hurried on to the cataract below 
him. The canoe did not, however, pass 
immediately over, but striking a rock 
which stood upon the very edge of the 
falls, it was split, one part passing over, 
while the other was jammed against 
the rock. To this Zaidi clung in terror, 
while the waves dashed angrily around 
him. 

Instead of attempting to render assist- 
ance to the endangered man, the natives 
stood upon the shore and howled most 
unmercifully, and at last sent for Stan- 
ley. The latter at once set them at 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



298 



work making a rattan rope, by which 
he proposed to let a boat down to the 
man, into which he could get and be 
pulled ashore. 

But the rope proved too weak, and 
was soon snapped in twain and the boat 
carried over the falls. Other and stouter 
ropes were then laid up, three pieces of 
which were fastened to a canoe. But 
it was useless to send the boat out with- 
out some one to guide it to the place 
where Zaidi was, and Stanley looked 
about for volunteers. No one seemed 
inclined to undertake the dangerous 
job, until the brave Uledi quietly said, 
" I will go. ' ' And he did. Two of the 
cables attached to the boat were held 
by men on the shore, while the third 
was to be used to enable the poor wretch 
upon the rock to reach the boat. Sev- 
eral efforts were made to place it within 
his reach, but each in turn failed. 

Over the Falls. 

At last, however, he grasped it, and 
orders were given for the boat to be 
pulled ashore. No sooner were the 
cables tightened than they snapped like 
small cords, and Zaidi was carried over 
the falls ; but holding on to the rope, 
he pulled the boat against the rock, 
in which position it became wedged. 
Uledi pulled him up and assisted him 
into the boat, when they both scrambled 
upon the rock. A rope was thrown to 
them, but failed to reached the spot 
where they were. 

This was repeated several times, until 
at last they succeeded in catching it. 
A heavy rope was then tied to it, which 
the men drew towards them and fas- 
tened to the rock, and thus communi- 
cation was established between those 
upon the rock and those upon the shore. 



By this time darkness shut in upon 
them, and they were forced to leave the 
men upon their wild perch, and wait 
for another day before attempting to get 
them off. The next day they succeeded 
in drawing them both to the shore. 

Lost in the Whirlpool. 

On June 3d another accident occurred 
at Masassa whirlpool, which was more 
deplorable than all the others. Frank 
Pocock, who had been Stanley's main- 
stay and next in command to himself, 
attempted to shoot the rapids against 
the advice of his experienced boatman, 
Uledi, who was the bravest native con- 
nected with the expedition, though a 
Zanzibar freedman. 

Pocock was warned of the danger of 
such an undertaking, but with a rash- 
ness quite unlike himself he ordered 
the canoe pushed out into the stream. 
As they approached nearer and nearei 
the mad breakers Frank realized his 
peril, but it was too late. They were 
soon caught in the dreadful whirl of 
waters and sucked under with a mighty 
force sufficient to swallow up a ship. 
Pocock was an expert swimmer, but 
his art did not now avail him, for he 
was swept away to his death, though 
his eight companions saved themselves. 

The dreadful news was borne to 
Stanley by the brave Uledi. This last 
and greatest calamity, coming in the 
midst of his already heavy weight of 
woe, so overcame the great explorer 
that he wept bitter tears of anguish. 

" My brave, honest, kindly-natured 
Frank," he exclaimed, "have you left 
me so ? Oh, my long-tried friend, what 
fatal rashness ! Ah, Uledi, had you but 
saved him, I should have made you a 
rich man." 



294 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



Of the three brave boys who sailed 
away from England with Stanley to 
win the laurels of discovery in the un- 
known wilds of Africa, not one was 
left, but all were now slumbering for 
eternity, in that strange land, where 
the tears of sorrowing friends and 
relatives could never moisten their rude 
beds of earth. 

The descent by river had cost Stan- 
ley Pocock, many of the natives, i8,- 
ooo dollars worth of ivory, twelve 
canoes, and a mutiny, not to mention 
grave anxiety and incessant cares and 
conflicts. After a weary time, nearly 
starved, the remainder of the expedi- 
tion, reduced to 1 1 5 persons, sent on to 
Embomma a message for help and food. 
The letter was as follows : 

"Village Nsanda, 

August 4th, 1877, 
" To any gentleynan who speaks 
English at Embonma^ 

" Dear Sir : — I have arrived at this 
place from Zanzibar with one hundred 
and fifteen souls, men, women and chil- 
dren. We are now in a state of immi- 
nent starvation. We can buy nothing 
from the natives, for they laugh at our 
kinds of cloth, beads and wire. There 
are no provisions in the country that 
may be purchased except on market- 
days, and starving people cannot afford 
to wait for chese markets. I have 
therefore made bold to despatch three 
of my young men, natives of Zanzibar, 
with a boy named Robert Fergui, of 
the English mission at Zanzibar, with 
this letter, craving relief from you. 

"I do not know you, but I am told 
there is an Englishman at Embomma, 
and as you are a Christian and a gen- 
tleman, I beg of you not to disregard 



my request. The boy Robert will be 
better able to describe jur condition 
than I can tell you in a letter. We are 
in a state of great distress, but, if your 
supplies arrive in time, I may be able 
to reach Embomma in four days. I 
want three hundred cloths, each four 
yards long, of such quality as you trade 
with, which is very different from that 
we have ; but better than all would be 
ten or fifteen man-loads of rice or grain 
to fill their pinched bellies immediately, 
as even with the cloths it would require 
time to purchase food, and starving 
men cannot wait. 

Must Have Supplies. 
"The supplies must arrive within 
two days, or I may have a fearful time 
of it among the dying. Of course I 
hold myself responsible for any expense 
you may incur in this business. What 
is wanted is immediate relief, and I 
pray you to use your utmost energies 
to forward it at once. For myself, if 
you have such little luxuries as tea, 
coffee, sugar and biscuit by you, such 
as one man can easily carry, I beg you, 
on my own behalf, that you will send 
a small supply, and add to the great 
debt of gratitude due to you upon the 
the timely arrival of supplies for my 
people. Until that time, I beg you to 
believe me 

" Yours sincerely, 

" H. M. Stanley, 
" Commanding Anglo-American Expe^ 
'■^ ditionfor Exploration of Africa. 

" P. S. — You may not know my 
name ; I therefore add, I am the person 
that discovered lyivingstone. 

"H. M.S.." 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



295 



When the letter was finished, Stanley 
gathered his men around him, and told 
them that he intended to send to Em- 
bomma for food, and desired to know 
who among them would go with the 
guides and carry the letter. No sooner 
had he asked the question, than Uledi 
sprang forward, exclaiming, " O, mas- 
ter, I am ready!" Other men also 
volunteered, and on the next day they 
set out with the guides. 

Deserted by the Guides. 

Before they had got half way, the 
guides left them, and they had to find 
their way as best they could. Passing 
along the banks of the Congo, they 
reached the village soon after sunset, and 
delivered the letter into the hands of a 
kindly disposed person. For thirty 
hours the messengers had not tasted 
food, but they were now abundantly 
supplied. On the following morning 
— it was the 6th of August — they 
started to return, accompanied by car- 
riers who bore provisions for the half- 
starving men, women, and children, 
with Stanley. 

Meanwhile, he and his weary party 
were pushing on as fast as their tired 
and wasted forms would let them. At 
nine o'clock in the morning they 
stopped to rest. While in this situation, 
an Arab boy suddenly sprang from his 
seat upon the grass, and shouted : 

" I see Uledi coming down the hill!" 

Such was indeed the fact, and as the 
jaded men wearily turned their eyes to 
the hill, half expecting to be deceived, 
they beheld Uledi and Kacheche run- 
ning down the hill, followed by carriers 
loaded with provisions. It was a glad 
sight to them, and with one accord they 
shouted: ''La il Allah, il Allah!'' 



("We are saved, thank God ! " ) Uledi 
was the first to reach the camp, and at 
once delivered a letter to his master. 

Thanks for Supplies. 
By the time Stanley had finished 
reading it, the carriers arrived with the 
provisions, and need we say that those 
half-starved people did them justice? 
Deeply grateful for the substantial ans- 
wer to his letter, he immediately penned 
another, acknowledging their safe ar- 
rival. The letter ran as follows : 

"Dear Sirs: — Though strangers I 
feel we shall be great friends, and it 
will be the study of my lifetime to re- 
member my feelings of gratefulness 
when I first caught sight of your sup- 
plies, and my poor faithful and brave 
people cried out, ' Master, we are saved 
— food is coming!' The old and the 
young men, the women and the child- 
ren lifted their wearied and worn-out 
frames and began lustily to chant an 
extemporaneous song in honor of the 
white people by the great salt sea (the 
Atlantic), who had listened to their 
prayers. I had to rush to my tent to 
hide the tears that would come, despite 
all my attempts at composure. 

" Gentlemen, that the blessing of God 
may attend your footsteps, whitherso- 
ever you go, is the very earnest prayer of 
" Yours faithfully, 

" Henry M. Stanley." 

It was a daring undertaking — that of 
marching from one ocean to the other 
through the wilds of Africa — but it was 
done. The great feat was accomplished. 
The magnificent miracle was performed. 
Heroism and self-sacrifice had their sub- 
lime triumph. Perils and hardships be- 
set the expedition from first to last. 



296 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



Mr. Stanley's own words can best de- 
scribe them. 

" On all sides," he says, "death stared 
us in the face; cruel eyes watched us 
by day and by night, and a thousand 
bloody hands were ready to take ad- 
vantage of the least opportunity. We 
defended ourselves like men who knew 
that pusillanimity would be our ruin 
among savages to whom mercy is a 
thing unknown. I wished, naturally, 
that it might have been otherwise, and 
looked anxiously and keenly for any 
sign of forbearance or peace. My anx- 
iety throughout was so constant, and 
the effects of it, physically and other- 
wise, have been such, that I now 
find myself an old man at thirty- 
five." 

Had Seen Hard Service. 

As if to give force to this last state- 
ment, the President of the American 
Geographical Society said : " It will be 
remembered that when we saw Mr. 
Stanley here in the Society, his hair 
was black ; it is now said to be nearly 
white. Of the 350 men with whom he 
left Zanzibar in 1874, but 115 reached 
the Atlantic coast, and 60 of those, 
when at the journey's end, were suffer- 
ing from dysentery, scurvy and dropsy. 
He was on the Congo from November 
I, 1876, to August 1 1, 1877 — a period of 
over nine months ; so that his promise 
to the native followers was fulfilled 
that he would reach the sea before the 
close of the year." 

The historic Nile gave up the mys- 
tery of its source, and the Congo was 
no longer a puzzle, baffling the exploits 
of modern exploration. 

Stanley showed that the lyualaba is 
.the Congo, and opened up a splendid 



water-way into the interior of the Dark 
Continent, which the International 
Association had already fixed upon, and 
which rival explorers discussed with 
more or less acrimony. Stanley put 
together the puzzle of which Burton, 
Speke, Livingstone, Baker, Du Chaillu, 
and Cameron provided pieces, and made 
the greatest geographical discovery of 
the century — and of many centuries. 
We cannot limit the results which will 
accrue from this feat of Henry M. Stan- 
ley in crossing the Dark Continent, over 
which he shed the light of civilization. 

Public Honors. 

Stanley was received with great cere- 
mony in England, and almost every 
nation hastened to bestow its honors 
upon him. But among them all he 
singled out one, concerning which he 
said: " For another honor I have to ex- 
press my thanks — one which I may be 
pardoned for regarding as more precious 
than all the rest. The Government of 
the United States has crowned my suc- 
cess with its official approval, and the 
unanimous vote of thanks passed in 
both houses of Congress, has made me 
proud for the life of the expedition and 
its success." 

Towards the end of 1886 Stanley was 
summoned from America to take com- 
mand of the expedition for the relief of 
Emin Pasha, the great German ex- 
plorer, who was lost in the wilds of 
Africa. On February 22, 1887, he ar- 
rived at Zanzibar ; on the 25th he, his 
officers and the Zanzibar porters, Soma- 
lis and Soudanese soldiers sailed for the 
mouth of the Congo, where they landed 
on the 1 8th of March. On June 15th 
the expedition had reached the village 
of Yambuya, 1300 miles from the sea, 



STANLEY'S JOURNEYS ACROSS AFRICA. 



29T 



on the left bank of the Aruwimi, 96 
miles above its confluence with the 
Congo. 

Here Stanley divided his forces. He 
left at Yambuya camp a large number 
of loads, which were to be brought on 
as soon as porters were provided by the 
Arab traveller and merchantman, Tipo- 
tipo. The entire force which left Zan- 
zibar numbered, all told, 706 men. 
Between Zanzibar,and Yambuya it was 
reduced to 649. Of this number 389, 
including Stanley and five Europeans, 
made up the advance force, the garri- 
son at Yambuya numbered 129, and a 
contingent 131 strong was shortly to 
join the Yambuyan camp from Bo- 
lobo. 

Major Barttelot was left in command 
of the rear column, and on June 28th 
Stanley set out on his forced march 
through the forest. It is impossible to 
follow here in detail the story of Stan- 
ley's indomitable struggle with almost 
insurmountable ^obstacles. Disaster 
overtook the rear column ; its leader. 
Major Barttelot, was assassinated ; Jame- 
son, the next in command, died of fever, 
and Bonny alone remained at the camp. 
For many months no news of Stanley 
reached Europe ; then came rumors of 
disaster ; and finally the news that 



Emin and Stanley had joined hands on 
the shores of the Albert Nyanza. 

The return journey was made by an 
overland route to the east coast, and 
Bagamoyo was reached on December 
4) 1889. Apart from the main object: 
of Stanley's journey this expedition 
established the existence of avast tropi- 
cal forest to the west of the lake coun- 
try, and occupying the northern portion 
of the Congo basin. 

In 1890 Stanley, after recruiting his 
health in Egypt and the South of 
France, returned to London and met 
with a reception almost royal in its 
splendor. He was everywhere feasted 
and feted. The Royal Geographical 
Society bestowed on him a special gold 
medal, and replicas were also presented 
to his ofHcers on the Emin Relief Ex- 
pedition ; and Oxford, Cambridge, Ed- 
inburg and Durham conferred on him 
honorary degrees. 

This is one of the most celebrated 
expeditions on record. We now have 
on the map of Africa what is known as 
the Congo Free State, a name that did 
not exist before the discoveries of Stan- 
ley. His achievements in the dark 
continent form one of the most inter- 
esting, romantic and heroic chapter's in 
the annals of exploration. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Travels and Adventures of Vambery in Central Asia. 



(b I HIS distinguished traveller is a 
* I native of Hungary. Impelled 
by the desire of ascertaining the 
relation of his native language to the 
TurcG-Tartarian tongues, he went first 
to Constantinople, whence, after sev- 
eral years' residence, he set out for 
Samarcand, the capital of the famous 
conqueror, Timour. 

Teheran, the modern capital of Per- 
sia, was reached in the middle of July, 
1862, but, owing to the war having 
commenced between Dost Mohammed 
and Ahmed Khan, the ruler of Herat, 
he did not leave that city until the end 
of the following March. As a means 
of more readily accomplishing the ob- 
jects of his journey, he assumed the 
character of a dervish, or mendicant 
pilgrim, on his way to the shrines of 
Moslem saints. This character his ac- 
quaintance with Oriental languages, 
and with Mahomedan manners and 
customs, qualified him to assume with- 
out much fear of detection ; and thus 
it was that he left Teheran in company 
with more than a score of Tartar pil- 
grims, a motly group of merchants, 
artisans, soldiers, and beggars, some 
mounted on asses, others trudging on 
foot, and mostly attired in the ragged 
garb of mendicancy. 

Taking a north-easterly course, up 
the slopes of the Elburz mountains, the 
travellers entered the great defile of 
Mazendran, from which they looked 
down upon the primaeval forests of the 
brightest verdure 
298 



From this defile they entered upon 
the causeway made by Shah Abbas, 
but now fast decaying, resting at night 
in the midst of a beautiful forest of box. 
Next day they reached Sari, the chief 
town of Mazendran, and surrounded 
by groves of orange and lemon trees, 
the brightly-tinted fruit of which pre- 
sented a charming contrast to their 
dark green foliage. Here they had to 
hire horses for a day's journey through 
the marshes between the woods and 
the shores of the Caspian Sea, on which 
they were to voyage in a small coasting 
vessel to Gomushtepe, a Turcoman vil- 
lage at the western extremity of Alex- 
ander's wall, which, according to the 
dwellers in that region, was built by 
genii at the Macedonian conqueror's 
command. 

The pilgrims lingered three weeks in 
this place, much against the inclina- 
tion of Vambery, and then continued 
their journey in a north-easterly direc- 
tion, all now riding camels or mules. 
Their way lay at first over grassy plains 
and through marshes, covered with tall 
reeds, which swarmed with wild hogs. 

The Persian mountains had now dis- 
appeared, and all around them, as far 
as they could see, stretched verdant 
plains, dotted here and there with a 
few tents, near which camels were 
grazing. The verdure ceased, and they 
found themselves entering upon the salt- 
marsh through which the Etrek pursues 
its sluggish course to the Caspian. 

To avoid other marshes, formed by 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



299 



the overflowing of the river, they had 
to follow a zigzag course, for the most 
part over a sandy tract, on which very 
few tents were visible. Crossing the 
Etrek with some difficulty, owing to 
the softness of the bottom and its 
flooded banks, they held a northward 



them in ruins. Some other ruins were 
seen on the northern summit of Koren- 
taghi, but were passed in the night. 

On the night of the 19th the caravaA 
was for a time in a position of great 
peril. They were approaching the Lit- 
tle Balkan ridge, at the foot of which 




VIEW OF TEHERAN — CAPITAL OF PERSIA. 



course over a trackless waste, guided 
during the day by the sun and at night 
by the pole-star. 

On the i6th of May the mountainous 
ridge called the Korentaghi was dis- 
cernible in a north-easterly direction, 
and they passed the ruins known as the 
Mesheni Misryan, which Vambery vis- 
ited on the following day, and found to 
be an ancient fortress, consisting of a 
square keep, and four towers, two of 



are many dangerous salt-marshes, which 
are not distinguishable from the firm 
ground in their vicinity, owing to a 
layer of salt which everywhere covers 
the surface. Warned by the stopping 
of the camels, all sprang down, and 
found the ground quaking and yielding 
beneath them. Fear rendered every 
one motionless until daybreak, whew 
they slowly and carefully effected a 
retrograde movement, reaching the foot 



300 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



of the hills about ten o'clock next 
inorning. 

Along the foot of these hills they 
journeyed until the evening of the 21st, 
when they reached the Great Balkan. 
"The spot where we encamped," says 
Vambery, "was not without its charms ; 
for, as the setting sun projected its rays 
upon the lovely valleys of the Little 
Balkan, one could almost fancy oneself 
actually in a mountainous district. The 
view might even be characterized as 
beautiful ; but there is the idea of a 
fearful desolation, the immense aban- 
donment which covers the whole, as it 
were, with a veil of mourning." 

The Route Lost. 

On the following night about twelve 
o'clock, just as they came upon a steep 
declivity, the guide gave the word for 
all to dismount, as they were entering 
the ancient bed of Oxus,and the storms 
and rains of the preceding winter had 
washed away all traces of the route, 
which had been tolerably well defined 
during the summer. Crossing the old 
course of the river in a crooked line, 
in order to find a way out on the oppo- 
site side, they succeeded by daybreak 
in clambering out upon the plateau 
beyond. 

The pilgrims were at this time suf- 
fering much from thirst, the springs 
which they found having dwindled to 
little pools of turbid and brackish water. 
On the morning of the 24tli they had 
reached the extremity of the sandy 
waste over which they had been toiling, 
and had their hopes of soon meeting 
with drinkable water encouraged by 
coming upon numerous footprints of 
gazelles and wild asses. Some little 
pools of rain-water were presently 



reached, and from this spot all the way 
to Khiva the water-skins of the pil- 
grims were always full. 

They were now at the foot of the 
plateau of Kaflankir, which rises like 
an island out of a sea of sand, the 
deep trench at its base, which the Tur- 
comans told Vambery was the ancient 
channel of the Oxus, forming the bound- 
ary on that side of the Khanate of Khiva. 
On this plateau the travellers observed 
gazelles and wild asses grazing in large 
herds. About noon on the second day 
they were on it, a great cloud of dust 
was seen towards the north, and the 
Turcoman escort stood to their arms, 
apprehensive of an attack. 

Nearer and nearer came the dust- 
cloud, as if raised by a charging squad- 
ron of cavalry. Hundreds of hoofs were 
clattering over the plateau. Presently 
the sound ceased suddenly, as if the 
troop had halted ; the cloud rolled away, 
and an immense herd of wild asses was 
seen drawn up in line. For a few 
moments they gazed intently at the 
cavalcade, and then galloped away. 

Warm Reception. 
Ozbeg villages now succeeded to the 
brown tents of the wandering tribe of 
the desert, and on the 2d of June the 
domes and minarets of Khiva were 
before them, rising above gardens, and 
cultivated fields, and groves of poplars. 
Vambery entered this town with his 
nerves strung to their extremest ten- 
sion, for he had heard that the Khan 
condemned to slavery all suspected 
strangers. He relied much, however, 
on his knowledge of all the Khivites 
of distinction who had been in Con- 
stantinople, and especially of one, Shu- 
krnllah Bey, whom he had geen several 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



301 



times at the house of All Pacha, some- 
time Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

To ShukruUah Bey he accordingly 
at once proceeded, introducing himself 
as an Effendi who had made the Bey's 
acquaintance in Constantinople, and 
desired to offer respects in passing. 
The Bey, though surprised, made eager 
inquiries concerning his numerous 
friends in the Ottoman capital, and the 
events which had occurred since he 
had left that city, Vambery answered 
all his questions with the utmost readi- 
ness, and, as he had anticipated, re- 
ceived next day a present and invita- 
tion from the Khan. 

He found that potenate sitting on a 
dais in the hall of audience, with his 
right hand holding a golden sceptre and 
his left resting on a velvet cushion. 
The interview was satisfactory to both, 
and at its termination the Khan wished 
Vambery to accept a purse of twenty 
ducats and an ass for his further jour- 
ney ; and on the money being declined, 
on the ground that dervishes are vowed 
to poverty, his highness insisted upon 
his visitor becoming his guest during 
his brief stay in his capital. 

A Fertile Country. 
Our traveller did not linger long in 
Khiva, for the heat was growing op- 
pressive, and he wished to push on to 
Bokhara before it became intolerable. 
He now rode the ass presented to him 
by the Khan, and employed the camel to 
carry provisions, with which he was now 
well supplied. The route pursued by 
the caravan until the Oxus was reached 
was through a fertile and well-cultivated 
country, with mulberry trees bordering 
the road, and their berries within reach 
of the traveller who rode in their shade. 



Flood-water rendered the Oxus so 
wide that the farther bank was almost 
indistinguishable. Owing to this ex- 
tent of water, the passage occupied 
from ten in the morning until sunset, 
though the river proper was crossed in 
half an hour. After passing over a few 
miles of tolerably well cultivated land^ 
they entered upon a sandy tract, througk 
which they pursued a south-easterly 
course along the right bank of the river. 
Here and there they came upon a few 
Khirgis tents, at which they were 
always sure of a draught of water or 
milk, which the dust and the intense 
heat must have rendered very acceptable. 

Pleasant News. 

On the fifth day of their journey 
along the banks of the Oxus, which are 
almost everywhere overgrown with wil- 
lows, rushes, and tall sedges, they met 
five horsemen, merchants returning 
from Bokhara to Khiva, and learned 
from them the pleasing intelligence 
that the route was quite safe. This 
communication set their minds at ease, 
for they had heard on leaving Khiva 
that the Tekke Turcomans, taking ad- 
vantage of the absence of the Emir and 
his army from Bokhara, were infesting 
the approaches to that city. 

Their agreeable reflections on this; 
score were disturbed soon after daybreat: 
next day, however, by meeting two men, 
who informed them that they had been 
robbed of their boots, their provisions, 
and most of their clothing, by a band 
of Tekke Turcomans, numbering about 
a hundred and fifty. Their Afghan 
guide, who had been twice robbed, and 
narrowly escaped with his life, im- 
mediately gave the word to retreat, 
which was done with as much speed 



302 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



as was possible with heavily-laden 
camels. 

Having reached their last resting- 
place — the ruins of an ancient fortress 
on a green hill overlooking the Oxus — 
they allowed the camels three hours' 
rest and pasture, while filling their 
water-skins, and then struck into the 
desert, which seemed their only chance 
of evading the plundering Tekke. It 
was sunset when they left the ruins, 
and a few stars were visible when they 
reached the desert ; but the moon had 
not yet risen to betray them to the 
keen sight of the robber horde, and 
they pursued their way in silence, the 
feet of the camels treading almost 
noiselessly upon the fine sand, 

A Suggestive Name. 

The night passed without an alarm. 
" Our morning station," says Vambery, 
"bore the charming appellation of 
Adamkyrylgan (which means ' the place 
where men perish'), and one needed 
only to cast a look at the horizon to 
convince himself how appropriate is 
that name. Let the reader picture to 
himself a sea of sand, extending as far 
as eye can reach, on one side formed 
into hills, like waves, lashed into that 
position by the furious storm, on the 
other side, again, like the smooth waters 
of a still lake, merely rippled by the 
west wind. Not a bird visible in the 
air, not a worm or beetle upon the 
earth ; traces of nothing but departed 
life, in the bleaching bones of man or 
beast that has perished, collected by 
every passer-by in a heap, to guide the 
march of future travellers." 

They were now obliged, notwith- 
standing the heat and dust, to use their 
water sparingly, and they began to suf- 



fer the tortures of thirst. Two of the 
camels died, two of the pilgrims be- 
came exhausted, and had to be bound 
at length upon their camels, and on the 
fourth day one of the sufferers died. So 
slow was their progress that they were 
not beyond the desert. And now, with 
the mountains in sight, the hot wind 
and the sand-cloud came, and they had 
to dismount in haste, and lie prostrate 
behind the camels, which fell on their 
knees, and strove to bury their heads 
in the sand. The dust-storm passed 
over them, and left them covered with 
a thick crust of hot sand. 

Scarcity of Water. 

Towards evening they reached a 
spring, but its water was undrinkable, 
and at midnight they started again, 
fevered and feeble, and scarcely able to 
move. Vambery slept from exhaustion, 
and found himself in the morning in a 
hut, surrounded by men, whom he 
found to be Persian slaves, sent from 
Bokhara by their masters to tend sheep. 
By them, poor as they were, he and his 
companions were hospitably and kindly 
treated. 

" I was much touched," he relates, 
" to see amongst them a child five years 
old, also a slave, of great intelligence. 
He had been, two years before, cap- 
tured and sold with his father. When 
I questioned him about the latter, he 
answered me confidingly, ' Yes ; my 
father has bought himself (meaning 
paid his own ransom) ; at longest I shall 
only be a slave two years, for by that 
time my father will have spared the 
necessary money.' The poor child had 
on him hardly anything but a few rags, 
to cover his weak little body ; his skin 
was of the hardness and color of 



-TRAVEIvS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



305 



leatTier. I gave him one of my own 
articles of attire, and he promised to 
have a dress made out of it for himself." 
Leaving these unhappy slaves with 
mingled feelings of compassion for 



fear of robbers, hot winds, and empty 
water-skins." 

Their next station was a village called 
Khakemir, in the midst of a tolerably 
well-cultivated country, the whole dis- 





DERVISHES 

their condition and thankfulness for 
their kindness, our travellers started 
with the intention of making their 
next station, at Khodja Oban, a place to 
which pilgrims resort to visit the grave 
of a Moslem saint; but they lost their 
way at night among the sand hills, and 
found themselves at daybreak on the 
margin of a lake. They were now on 
the borders of Bokhara, and free from 



AT PRAYKR. 

trict being watered by canals connected 
with the river Zereshan. This was 
crossed next day at a ford, though the 
remains of a stone bridge were visible 
on the farther side, near the ruins of a 
palace said to have been built by the 
renowned Abdullah Khan Sheibani. 
The city of Bokhara was now before 
them, its walls broken in many places, 
and its buildings presenting no traces 



304 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



of its fcnrmer grandeur, though it is still 
vaunted by Bokhariots as the capital of 
Central Asia. 

Vambery says the wretchedness of the 
streets and houses far exceed that of the 
meanest in Persian cities, and the dust, 
4 foot deep, give a poor idea of " noble 
Bokhara," as the inhabitants call it ; 
the only thing which impressed him 
being the strange and diversified mix 
ture of races and costumes, which pre- 
sent a striking spectacle to the eyes of 
a stranger. 

Vambery was well lodged here, and 
had access to the best society ; but the 
task of maintaining his assumed char- 
actei was a difficult one, and it is 
probable that only the sanctity supposed 
to attach to that character guarded 
his secret. He believed that he was 
suspected, and that many devices were 
resorted to with the view of causing 
him to betray himself. 

Strange Traveller. 
"One day," he says, "a servant of 
the Vizier brought to me a little shriv- 
elled individual, that I might examine 
■'aim, to see whether he was, as he pre- 
tended, really an Arab from Damascus. 
When he first entered, his features 
struck me much — they appeared to me 
European. When he opened his mouth, 
my astonishment and perplexity in- 
creased, for I found his pronunciation 
anything rather than that of an Arab. 
He told me that he had undertaken a 
pilgrimage to the tomb of Djafen Ben 
Sadik, at Khoten, in China, and wanted 
to proceed on his journey that very day. 
His features during our conversation 
betrayed visible embarrassment, and it 
was a subject of great regret to me that 
I had not an occasion to see him a 



second time, for I am strongly disposed 
to think that he was playing a part 
similar to my own." 

Some of the pilgrims being left in 
Bokhara, the caravan was reduced on 
leaving that city to the occupants of a 
couple of carts of very primitive con- 
struction, in which they were jolted 
in a most unpleasant manner, as the 
wheels — far from perfect circles — rolled 
through the deep sand or mud. 

Shut Out of the City. 

Night was chosen for starting, and as 
the driver was not familiar with the 
road he mistook the way, and it was 
morning when the little town of Mezar 
was reached. The journey was resumed, 
therefore, after a brief halt, through a 
fertile and well-cultivated country, more 
refreshing to the eye than anything the 
travellers had seen since they had left 
the Pontos mountains behind them. 

Next morning they reached Kette 
Kurgan, where there is a fortress de- 
fended by a strong wall and a deep 
trench, and, the sun having set, the 
gates were closed, and they had to lodge 
at a caravanserai outside the walls. 
Samarcand was reached on the sixth 
day, and the first impression made by 
its domes and minarets, brightened by 
the sunbeams, and brought into relief 
by a background of groves and gardens, 
was very pleasing. Of this ancient city 
to which so much historical interest at- 
taches, Vambery says that " although it 
equals Teheran in circumference, its 
houses do not lie so close together ; still, 
the prominent buildings and ruins offer 
a far more magnificent prospect. The 
eye is most struck by four lofty edifices, 
in the form of half-domes, the fronts of 
the Medresses (colleges). 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



ao5 



" As we advance, we perceive first a 
small neat dome, and further to the 
south a larger and more imposing one ; 
the former is the tomb, the latter the 
mosque, of Timour. Quite facing us, 
on the south-westerly limit of the city, 
on a hill, rises the citadel, round which 
other mosques and tombs are grouped. 
If we suppose the whole intermixed 
with closely-planted gardens, we have a 
faint idea of Samarcand." 

Dazzling Splendor. 

Like all eastern cities, this "focus of 
the whole globe," as a Persian poet 
calls it, shows best at a distance ; but 
many of its antiquities are interesting 
even to Europeans. The summer pal- 
ace of Timour retains much of its 
ancient splendor, being approached by 
an ascent of forty broad marble steps, 
and containing apartments with mosaic 
floors, the colors of which are as bril- 
liant as if they had been executed by 
the present generation of workmen. 
Three flags, a breastplate, and an old 
sword, doubtful relics of the great 
Emir, were shown to our traveller by 
the custodian. 

The mosque of Timour has a melon- 
shaped dome, and is rich in decorations 
of colored bricks and inscriptions from 
the Koran in gold letters. The mosque 
of Shah Zindel exhibits similar mural 
decorations, but they are defaced in 
many places, and the arched gateway 
shows the ravages of time in its broken 
brickwork. The citadel contains the 
reception-hall of Timour, with the cel- 
ebrated green stone upon which the 
conquering Emir had his throne placed. 

The tomb of Timour consists of a 
neat chapel, surmounted by a splendid 
central dome and two smaller ones, and 

20 



surrounded by a wall, in which is a 
high arched gate. The tomb is under 
the central dome, and is covered with 
a flat dark-green stone. The walls of 
the chapel are covered internally with 
alabaster, decorated with arabesque de- 
signs in blue and gold. 

The Emir's Parade. 

Vambery was preparing for his de- 
parture from Samarcand, where he 
stayed only eight days, when the Emir, 
returning from his victorious campaign 
in Khokand, made his triumphal entry 
into the city. There was a great crowd, 
but no particular pomp was displayed. 
Two hundred horsemen rode first, and 
were followed by infantry, with flags 
and drums. 

"The Emir and all his escort," says 
our traveller, "looked, with their snow- 
white turbans and wide silk garments 
of all the colors of the rainbow, more 
like the chorus of women in the opera 
of ' Nebuchadnezzar ' than a troop of 
Tartar warriors. So also it may be 
said with respect to other officers of the 
Court, of whom some bore white staves 
and others halbreds, that there was in 
the whole procession nothing to remind 
one of Turkestan, except in the fol- 
lowers, of whom many were Kiptchaks, 
and attracted attention by their Mongol 
features and the arms which they 
bore consisting of bows, arrows, and 
shields." 

The Emir held a public audience on 
the following day, and Vambery pre- 
sented himself, sustaining his well- 
assumed character of a Mohamedan 
pilgrim with his usual address, and 
again with success. He was advised 
by his friends, however, to quit Samar- 
cand with all speed, and gain as quickly 



S06 



TRAV:etS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



as possible the farther bank of the 
Oxus. He left the city by night, but 
travelled slowly, on account of the 
heat, passing through a well-cultivated 
country, in a south-westerly direc- 
tion; Herat, of which so much has 
been heard of late in connection with 
events in Afghanistan, being the next 
goal. 

Karshi, a town of considerable size 
and commercial importance, was reach- 
ed on the third day, and our traveller 
was surprised to find there a public 
garden, with flower-beds and tea-stalls, 
on a scale which he had not found in 
Bokhara or Samarcand, or even in 
Persia. He remained there three days, 
and at sunrise on the second day of the 
resumed journey reached the Oxus, on 
the nearer bank of which stands a small 
fort, and on the opposite side, on a 
steep hill, the citadel, around which is 
spread tlie frontier town of Kevki. 

"Mother of Cities." 
Having to wait here the arrival of 
the caravan for Herat, he availed him- 
self of the delay to visit the ruins of 
ancient Balkh, styled by Oriental writ- 
ers "the mother of cities." Only a 
few heaps of earth are pointed out as 
remains of the ancient Bactra, and 
of the more modern ruins there is no- 
thing more remarkable than a half- 
demolished mosque, built by the Seld- 
joukian Sultan Sandjar in the days 
when Balkh was the centre of Moslem 
civilization. 

The caravan in which our traveller 
turned his back upon the Khanate of 
Bokhara consisted of four hundred 
camels, nearly as many asses, and a 
few horses. Some of the men were 
pilgrims, others emancipated slaves re- 



turi'mg to their native countries. The 
country traversed was for some distance 
a barren plain, then, as the north-west- 
ern frontier of Afghanistan was ap- 
proached, it became hilly. 

A broad valley was threaded, and 
then a steep mountain pass was trav- 
ersed, so narrow that the caravan had 
to wind through it in single file. Thence 
they descended into a long valley, 
through which the river Murgab ran 
swiftly, in crossing which Vambery's 
ass fell, and precipitated him into the 
water, amidst the laughter of his com- 
panions. The river was not deep, 
however, and he escaped with no greater 
mishap than a wetting. 

Slow Travelling. 

From this ford to Herat is reckoned 
four days' journey for horses, but camels 
require double that time, the country 
being mountainous. It became wilder 
and more picturesque as the travellers 
advanced, the ruins of old castles 
crowning the precipices between which 
the Murgab pours its foaming stream. 
Beyond the second pass they left the 
river, and proceeded in a westerly di- 
rection, reaching next day the ruins of 
the town and fortress of Kale No, the 
site of which was occupied by a few 
tents of the Hezare, a tribe of mixed 
Tartar and Persian descent. 

Thence to Herat is twenty miles, but 
the way lies over lofty mountains, and 
requires four days for its accomplish- 
ment. The highest summit was passed 
on the second day, and was covered 
with snow, so that the travellers suf- 
fered severely from cold, in spite of the 
great fires which they made when they 
halted. Thence they descended a path 
only a foot wide, along a ledge from 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



307 



whicli a precipice rose above a deep 
ravine. 

Rounding the shoulder of a mountain, 
they looked down upon the broad and 
fertile plains in which Herat stands, 
dotted with villages, and intersected 
by numerous canals. Trees only are 
wanted to complete the charm of the 
^ndscape. The city, having been re- 
cently besieged by Dost Mahomed, 
presented a ruinous appearance. 

' ' The houses which we passed, the 
advanced works, the very gate," says 
Vambery, " looked like a heap of rub- 
bish. Near the latter is the citadel, 
which, from its elevation, served as a 
mark for the Afghan artillery ; it lies 
there blasted and half-demolished. The 
doors and windows have been stripped 
of their woodwork, for during the siege 
the inhabitants suffered most from the 
scarcity of fuel . Each step we advance 
we see greater indications of devasta- 
tion. Entire quarters of the town re- 
main solitary and abandoned." 

Means Exhausted. 

Our traveller's resources were by this 
time exhausted, and he was compelled 
to sell his ass. He waited upon an en- 
voy sent by the Governor of Khorassan 
to the young Sirdar of Herat, Yakoub 
Khan, in the hope of obtaining employ- 
ment, but without success. His fellow- 
travellers had dispersed, only one re- 
maining with him — a young man who 
had become attached to him, and event- 
ually accompanied him to Pesth. 

To leave no stone unturned, he waited 
upon Yakoub Khan — then a lad of fif- 
teen — who seemed to penetrate his secret 
immediately; for, regarding him for a 
moment with a look of surprise and 
perplexity, he raised a finger, and smil- 



ingly' exclaimed, " I swear you are an 
Englishman ! ' ' Before Vambery could 
reply, he sprang from his chair, and, 
clapping his hands, exclaimed, *' Pardon 
me ; but you are an Englishman, are 
you not?" The traveller assumed a 
grave look, and reminded the young 
prince of the proverb attributed by tra^ 
dition to the prophet of Mecca, "He 
who takes the believer for an unbelievei 
is himself an unbeliever." 

Welcome from the Prince. 

This rejoinder disconcerted Yakoub, 
who resumed his seat, observing in an 
apologetic tone that he had never before 
seen a hadji from Bokhara with such a 
physiognomy. Vambery replied that 
he was not a Bokhariot, but a Stram- 
bouli; and, producing his Turkish pass- 
port, mentioned Yakoub's cousin, the 
son of Akbar Khan, who was in Con- 
stantinople in i860. The prince then 
spoke very graciously to him, and in- 
vited him to repeat his visit as often as 
he could. 

Two days before he left Herat our 
traveller made an excursion to the vil- 
lage of Gazerghiah, situated on an emi- 
nence a league from the city, and con- 
taining many memorials of antiquity, 
dating from the time of Shah Rookh 
Mirza, a son of Timour. Near the vil- 
lage are the ruins of Mosalla, which 
were also visited. The remains of the 
mosque and sepulchre of Sultan Hoosein 
Mirza, erected 891, displayed a large 
amount of elaborate carving, many of 
the stones being covered with inscrip- 
tions from the Koran. 

On the 15th of November, 1863, Vam- 
bery quitted Herat with the great car- 
avan bound for Meshed, and consisting 
of 2,000 persons, about half of whom 



308 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



were Hezare pilgrims from Cabul, and 
a large proportion of the remainder 
Afghan merchants from that city and 




A PERSIAN OFFICIAL. 

from Candahar. He obtained permis- 
sion to ride upon a lightly-loaded camel 
by representing that he should be able 
to pay when the caravan reached Me- 
shed ; but by this statement he raised 
doubts of the genuineness of the char- 



acter which he had assumed, so far with 
success. 

" The dubious light in which I stood, 
afforded," he says, "a fund of interest- 
ing surmises to those by whom I was 
surrounded ; for whilst some of them 
took me for a genuine Turk, others 
were disposed to think me an English- 
man ; the different parties even quar- 
relled on the subject, and it was very 
droll to observe how the latter began to 
triumph over the former when it was 
observed that, in proportion as we drew 
near to Meshed, the bent posture of 
humility of the dervish began more and 
more to give way to the upright and in- 
dependent deportment of the Euro- 
pean." 

Meshed was reached on the twelfth 
day after the departure of the caravan 
from Herat, and there our traveller was 
hospitably received by Colonel Dol- 
mage, who filled several important 
offices under Murad Mirza, uncle of the 
reigning Shah, and governor of the 
city. 

The disguise was now thrown off, 
and, reflecting that the truth concern- 
ing him would become known at Herat 
on the return of the Afghans who had 
travelled with him from that city, he 
wrote to Yakoub Khan, avowing that 
though not an Englishman, he was a 
European, and complimenting the 
young prince on the acuteness which 
had penetrated his disguise. 

For a month he was the honored 
guest of Colonel Dolmage, and then he 
set out for Teheran. That city was 
reached on the 20th of January, 1864, 
and he proceeded immediately to the 
Turkish embassy, whence he had started 
ten months before on his adventurous 
journey, A suite of apartments was 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN ASIA. 



309 



immediately set apart for him, the 
British and French ambassadors vied 
with each other in showing hirh kind- 
ness, and the Shah accorded him a 
gracious reception. He remained in 
the Persian capital more than two 
months, and then set out for Constanti- 
nople, via Tabreez and Trebizond. 



Vambery's adventurous journey was 
the most remarkable of any in Central 
Asia during the century, bringing the 
outside world into touch with a part of 
the globe that has remained for ages an 
almost impenetrable mystery to othei 
countries, and at the same time settling 
many doubtful quesUcns- 



PART IV. 

Great Wars and Battles 

OF THE 

NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo. 



(5 




HE great battle which ended the 
twenty-three years' war of the 
first French Revokition, and 
which quelled the extraordinary man 
whose genius and ambition had so long 
dominated the world, is justly regarded 
as one of those remarkable events that 
appear at long intervals and determine 
the fate of nations. 

Europe, long tossed by wars and con- 
vulsions, at length breathed peacefully. 
Suddenly Napoleon Bonaparte escaped 
from Elba and the whole scene was 
changed as if by the magic of an evil 
spirit. The exertions which the allied 
powers made at this crisis to grapple 
promptly with the French Emperor 
have truly been termed gigantic, and 
never were Napoleon's genius and ac- 
tivity more signally displayed than in 
the celerity and skill by which he 
brought forward all the military re- 
sources of France, which the reverses 
of the three preceding years, and the 
pacific policy of the Bourbons during 
the months of their first restoration, had 
greatly diminished and disorganized. 

He re-entered Paris on the 20th of 
March, 1815, aad by the end of May, 
310 



besides sending a force into La Vendee 
to put down the armed risings of the 
Royalists in that province, and besides 
providing troops under Massena and 
Suchet for the defense of the southern 
frontiers of France, Napoleon had an 
army assembled in the northeast for 
active operations under his own com- 
mand, which amounted to between 120 
and 1 30,000 men, with a superb park of 
artillery, and in the highest possible state 
of equipment, discipline and efficiency. 

The approach of the many Russians, 
Austrians, Bavarians and other foes of 
the French Emperor to the Rhine was 
necessarily slow ; but the two most active 
of the allied powers had occupied 
Belgium with their troops while Na- 
poleon was organizing his forces. Mar- 
shal Blucher was there with 116,000 
Prussians, and the Duke of Wellington 
was there also with about 106,000 troops, 
either British or in British pay. 

Napoleon determined to attack these 
enemies in Belgium. The disparity of 
numbers was indeed great, but delay 
was sure to increase the number of his 
enemies much faster than reinforce- 
ments could join his own ranks. He con- 




ail 



312 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



sidered also that "the enemy's troops 
were cantoned under the command of 
two generals, and composed of nations 
differing both in interest and in feel- 
ings. His own army was under his own 
sole command. It was composed ex- 
clusively of French soldiers, mostly 
veterans, well acquainted with their 
officers and with each other, and full of 
enthusiastic confidence in their com- 
mander. If he could separate the Prus- 
sians from the British, so as to attack 
each in detail, he felt sanguine of suc- 
cess, not only against these, the most 
resolute of his many adversaries, but 
also against the other masses that were 
slowly laboring up against his south- 
tastern frontiers. 

The French Concealed. 

The triple chain of strong fortresses 
which the French possessed on the Bel- 
gian frontier formed a curtain, behind 
which Napoleon was able to concen- 
trate his army, and to conceal till the 
very last moment the precise line of 
attack which he intended to take. On 
the other hand, Blucher and Welling- 
ton were obliged to canton their troops 
along a line of open country of con- 
siderable length, so as to watch for the 
outbreak of Napoleon from whichever 
point of his chain of strongholds he 
should please to make it. 

Blucher, with his army, occupied the 
banks of the Sambre and the Meuse, 
from Liege on his left, to Charleroi on 
his right ; and the Duke of Wellington 
covered Brussels, his cantonments being 
partly in front of that city, and be- 
tween it and the French frontier, and 
partly on its west ; their extreme right 
being at Courtray and Tournay, while 
their left approached Charleroi and 



communicated with the Prussian 
right. 

It was upon Charleroi that Napoleon 
resolved to level his attack, in hopes of 
severing the two allied armies from each 
other, and then pursuing his favorite 
tactic of assailing each separately with 
a superior force on the battle-field, 
though the aggregate of their numbers 
considerably exceeded his own. 

Over the Frontier. 

On the 15th of June the French army 
was suddenly in motion, and crossed 
the frontier in three columns, which 
were pointed upon Charleroi and its 
vicinity. The French line of advance 
upon Brussels, which city Napoleon re- 
solved to occupy, thus lay right through 
the centre of the line of the canton- 
ments of the allies. The Prussian gen- 
eral rapidly concentrated his forces, 
calling them in from the left, and the 
English general concentrated his, call- 
ing them in from the right toward the 
menaced centre of the combined posi- 
tion. 

On the morning of the i6th, Blucher 
was in position at lyigny, to the north- 
east of Charleroi, with 80,000 men. 
Wellington's troops were concentrating 
at Quatre Bras, which lies due north of 
Charleroi, and is about nine miles from 
Ligny. On the i6th. Napoleon in per- 
son attacked Blucher, and, after a long 
and obstinate battle, defeated him, and 
compelled the Prussian army to retire 
northward toward Wavre. On the same 
day. Marshal Ney, with a large part of 
the French army, attacked the English 
troops at Ouatre Bras, and a very severe 
engagement took place, in which Ney 
failed in defeating the British, but sue 
ceeded in preventing their sending any 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WA/ERLOO. 



815 



help to Blucher, who was being beaten 
by the Emperor at Ligny. 

On the news of Bhicher's defeat at 
Ligny reaching Wellington, he foresaw 
that the Emperor's army would now be 
directed upon him, and he accordingly 
retreated in order to restore his com- 
munications with his ally, which would 
have been dislocated by the Prussians 
falling back from Ligny to Wavre if 
the English had remained in advance 
at Quatre Bras. During the 17th, 
therefore, Wellington retreated, being 
pursued, but little molested by the main 
French army, over about half the space 
between Quatre Bras and Brussels. 

Decides to Give Battle. 

This brought him again parallel, on 
a line running from west to east, witli 
Blucher, who was at Wavre. Having 
ascertained that the Prussian army, 
though beaten on the i6th, was not 
broken, and having received a promise 
from its general to march to his assist- 
ance, Wellington determined to halt, \ 
and to give battle to the French Em- 
peror in the position, which, from a 
village in its neighborhood, has re- 
ceived the ever-memorable name of the 
field of Waterloo. 

When, after a very hard-fought and 
long-doubtful day. Napoleon had suc- 
ceeded in driving back the Prussian 
army from Ligny, and had resolved on 
marching himself to assail the English, 
he sent, on the 17th, Marshal Grouchy 
with 30,000 men to pursue the defeated 
Prussians, and to prevent their march- 
ing to aid the Duke of Wellington. 
Great recriminations passed afterwards 
between the marshal and the Emperor 
as to how this duty was attempted to 
be performed, and the reasons why 



Grouchy failed on the i8th to arrest 
the lateral movement of the Prussian 
troops from Wavre toward Waterloo. 

It may be sufficient to remark here 
that Grouchy was not sent in pursuit 
of Blucher till late on the 17th, and 
that the force given to him was insuffi- 
cient to make head against the whole 
Prussian army ; for Blucher' s men, 
though they were beaten back, and suf- 
fered severe loss at Ligny, were neither 
routed nor disheartened ; and they were 
joined at Wavre by a large division of 
their comrades under General Bulow, 
who had taken no part in the battle of 
the 1 6th, and who were fresh for the 
march to Waterloo against the French 
on the 1 8th. 

But the failure of Grouchy was in 
truth mainly owing to the indomitable 
heroism of Blucher himself, who, though 
severely injured in the battle at Ligny, 
was as energetic and as active as ever 
in bringing his men into action again, 
and who had the resolution to expose a 
part of his army, under Thielman, to 
be overwhelmed by Grouchy at Wavre 
on the 1 8th, while he urged the march 
of the mass of his troops upon Water- 
loo. "It is not at Wavre, but at Water- 
loo," said the old field-marshal, "that 
the campaign is to be decided ;" and 
he risked a detachment, and won the 
campaign accordingly. 

In Perfect Agreement. 
Wellington and Blucher trusted each 
other as cordially, and co-operated as 
zealously, as formerly had been the 
case with Marlborough and Eugene. 
It was in full reliance on Blncher's 
promise to join him that the duke stood 
his ground and fought at Waterloo-, 
and those who have ventured to impugn 



314 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



the duke's capacity as a general ought 
'.o have had common sense enough to 
perceive that to charge the duke with 
having won the battle of Waterloo by 
the belp of the Prussians is really to 
say that he won it by the very means 
on which he relied, and without the 
expectation of which the battle would 
not have been fought. 

Wellington Criticized. 

Napoleon himself found fault with 
Wellington for not having retreated 
beyond Waterloo. The short answer 
may be, that the duke had reason to 
expect that his army could singly resist 
the French at Waterloo until the Prus- 
sians came up, and that, on the Prus- 
sians joining, there would be a suffi- 
cient force, united under himself and 
Blucher, for completely overwhelming 
the enemy. 

And while Napoleon thus censures 
his great adversary, he involuntarily 
bears the highest possible testimony 
to the military character of the English, 
and proves decisively of what para- 
mount importance was the battle to 
which he challenged his fearless oppo- 
nent. Napoleon asks, "If the English 
army had been beaten at Waterloo, 
what would have been the use of those 
numerous bodies of troops, of Prussians, 
Austrians, Germans, and Spaniards, 
which were advancing by forced march- 
es to the Rhine, the Alps, and Py- 
renees?" 

The reader may gain a generally ac- 
curate idea of the localities of the great 
battle by picturing a valley between 
two and three miles long, of various 
breadths at different points, but gener- 
ally not exceeding half a mile. On 
each side of the valley there is a wind- 



ing chain of low hills, running some- 
what parallel with each other. The 
declivity from each of these ranges of 
hills to the intervening valley is gentle 
but not uniforrh, the undulations of the 
ground being frequent and considera- 
ble. The English army was posted on 
the northern, and the French army oc- 
cupied the southern ridge. 

The artillery of each side thundered 
at the other from their respective heights 
throughout the day, and the charges of 
horse and foot were made across the 
valley that has been described. The 
village of Mont St. Jean is situated a 
little behind the centre of the northern 
chain of hills, and the village of La 
Belle Alliance is close behind the centre 
of the southern ridge. The high road 
from Charleroi to Brussels runs through 
both these villages, and bisects, there- 
fore, both the English and the French 
positions. The line of this road was 
the line of Napoleon's intended advance 
on Brussels. 

Advantages of Position. 
There are some other local particu- 
lars connected with the situation of 
each army which it is necessary to bear 
in mind. The strength of the British 
position did not consist merely in the 
occupation of a ridge of high ground. 
A village and ravine, called Merk 
Braine, on the Duke of Wellington's 
extreme right, secured him from nis 
flank being turned on that side ; and on 
his extreme left, two little hamlets, 
called La Haye and Papillote, gave a 
similar though, a slighter protection. 
It was, however, less necessary to pro- 
vide for this extremity of the position, 
as it was on this (the eastern) side that 
the Prussians were coming up. 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



315 



Behind the whole British position important to see what posts there were 
was the great and extensive forest of in front of the British line of hills of 




THK DUKE OF WELLINGTON — COMMANDER OF THE ALLIED ARMIES. 



Soignies, As no attempt was made by 
the French to turn either of the Eng- 
lish flanks, and the battle was a day of 
straightforward fighting ; it is chiefly 



which advantage could be taken either 
to repel or facilitate an attack ; and it 
will be seen that there were two, and 
that each was of very great importance. 



316 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



In front of the British right, that is 
to say, on the northern slope of the val- 
ley toward its western end, there stood 
an old-fashioned Flemish farm-house 
called Goumont or Hougoumont, with 
out-buildings and a garden, and with a 
copse of beech trees of about two acres 
in extent round it. This was strongly 
garrisoned by the allied troops ; and 
while it was in their possession, it was 
difficult for the enemy to press on and 
force the British right wing. 

Enemy Under Cover. 

On the other hand, if the enemy could 
occupy it, it would be difficult for that 
wing to keep its ground on the heights, 
with a strong post held adversely in its 
immediate front, being one that would 
give much shelter to the enemy's marks- 
men, and great facilities for the sudden 
concentration of attacking columns. 
Almost immediately in front of the 
British centre, and not so far down the 
slope as Hougoumont, there was another 
farmhouse, of a smaller size, called La 
Haye Sainte, which was also held by 
the British troops, and the occupation 
of which was found to be of very seri- 
ous consequence. 

With respect to the French position, 
the principal feature to be noticed is 
the village of Planchenoit, which lay a 
little in the rear of their right (that is, 
on the eastern side), and which proved 
to be of great importance in aiding 
them to check the advance of the Prus- 
sians. 

As has been already mentioned, the 
Prussians, on the morning of the i8th, 
were at Wavre, about twelve miles to 
the east of the field of battle at Water- 
loo. The junction of Bulow's division 
had more than made up for the loss sus- 



tained at Ligny ; and leaving Thielman, 
with about 17,000 men, to hold his 
ground as he best could against the 
attack which Grouchy was about to 
make on Wavre, Bulow and Bluchcr 
movvid with the rest of the Prussians 
upon Waterloo. It was calculated that 
they would be there by three o'clock ; 
but the extremely difficult nature of the 
ground which they had to traverse, ren- 
dered worse by the torrents of rain that 
had just fallen, delayed them long ov 
their twelve miles' march. 

The night of the 17th was wet and 
stormy; and when the dawn of the 
memorable i8th of June broke, the rain 
was still descending heavily. The 
French and British armies rose from 
their dreary bivouacs and began to form, 
each on the high ground which it oc- 
cupied. Toward nine the weather grew 
clearer, and each army was able to 
watch the position and arrangements of 
the other on the opposite side of the 
valley. 

Line of Battle. 
The Duke of Wellington drew up his 
infantry in two lines, the second line 
being composed principally of Dutch 
and Belgian troops, whose fidelity was 
doubtful, and of those regiments of 
other nations which had suffered most 
severely at Quartre Bras on the i6th. 
This second line was posted on the 
northern declivity of the hills, so as to 
be sheltered from the French cannonade. 
The cavalry v/as stationed at intervals 
along the line in the rear, the largest 
force of horse being collected on the 
left of the centre, to the east of the 
Charleroi road. On the opposite heights 
the French army was drawn up in two 
general lines, with the entire force of 



DOWNt^ALt OP NAl>OtfiOisr At WAf EktOO. 



m 



ihe Imperial Guards, cavalry as well as 
infantry, in the rear of the centre, as a 
."eserve. 

English military critics highly eulo- 
gized the admirable arrangement which 
Napoleon made of his forces of each 
arm, so as to give him the most ample 
means of sustaining, by an immediate 
and sufficient support, any attack, from 
whatever point he might direct it, and 
of drawing promptly together a strong 
force, to resist any attack that might be 
made on himself in any part of the field. 
When his troops were all arrayed, he 
rode along the lines, receiving every- 
where the most enthusiastic cheers from 
his men, of whose entire devotitni to 
him his assurance was now doubly sure. 
On the southern side of the valley the 
duke's army was also arrayed, and ready 
to meet the menaced attack. 

Armies Face to Face. 

The two armies were now fairly in 
presence of each other, and their mutual 
observation was governed by the most 
intense interest and the most scrutiniz- 
ing anxiety. In a still greater degree 
did these feelings actuate their com- 
manders, while watching each other's 
preparatory movements, and minutely 
scanning the surface of the arena on 
which tactical skill, habitual prowess, 
physical strength, and moral courage 
were to decide, not alone their own, 
but, in all probability, the fate of 
Europe. 

Apart from national interests and 
considerations, and viewed solely in 
connection with the opposite characters 
of the two illustrious chiefs, the ap- 
proaching contest was contemplated 
with anxious solicitude by the whole 
military world. Need this create sur- 



prise when we reflect that the struggle 
was one for mastery between the far- 
famed conqueror of Italy and the vic- 
torious liberator of the Peninsula ; be- 
tween the triumphant vanquisher of 
Eastern Europe, and the bold and suc- 
cessful invader of the south of France i 
Never was the issue of a single battle 
looked forward to as involving conse- 
quences of such vast importance — of 
such universal influence. 

The Struggle Begins. 

It was approaching noon before the 
action commenced. Napoleon, in his 
memoirs, gives as the reason for this 
delay, the miry state of the ground 
through the heavy rain of the preced- 
ing night and day, which rendered it 
impossible for cavalry or artillery to 
manceuver on it until a few hours of 
dry weather had given it its natural 
consistency. It has been supposed, also, 
that he trusted to the eflfect which the 
sight of the imposing array of his own 
forces was likely to produce on the part 
of the allied army. 

The Belgian regiments had been 
tampered with ; and Napoleon had well 
founded hopes of seeing them quit the 
Duke of Wellington in a body, and 
range themselves under his own eagles. 
The duke, however, who knew and did 
not trust them, had guarded against 
the risk of this by breaking up the 
corps of Belgians, and distributing them 
in separate regiments among troops on 
whom he could rely. 

At last, at about half past eleven 
o'clock. Napoleon began the battle by 
directing a powerful force from his left 
wing under his brother. Prince Jerome, 
to attack Hougoumont. Column after 
colunm of the French now descended 



318 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



from the west to the southern heights, 
and assailed that post with fiery valor, 
which was encountered with the most 
determined bravery. The French won 
the copse round the house, but a party 
of the British Guards held the house 
itself throughout the day. 

Terrific Cannonade. 

Amid shell and shot, and the blazing 
fragments of part of the buildings, this 
obstinate contest was continued. But 
still the English held Hougoumont, 
though the French occasionally moved 
forward in such numbers as enabled 
them to surround and mask this post 
with part of their troops from their left 
wing, while others pressed onward up 
the slope, and assailed the British right. 

The cannonade, which commenced 
at first between the British right and 
the French left, in consequence of the 
attack on Hougoumont, soon became 
general along both lines ; and about 
one o'clock Napoleon directed a grand 
attack to be made under Marshal Ney 
upon the centre and left wing of the 
allied army. For this purpose four 
columns of infantry, amounting to about 
18,000 men were collected, supported 
by a strong division of cavalry under 
the celebrated Kellerman, and seventy- 
four guns were brought forward ready 
to be posted on the ridge of a little 
undulation of the ground in the inter- 
val between the two main ranges of 
heights, so as to bring their fire to bear 
on the duke's line at a range of about 
seven hundred yards. 

By the combined assault of these 
formidable forces, led on by Ney, " the 
bravest of the brave," Napoleon hoped 
to force the left centre of the British 
position, to take La Haye Sainte, 



and then, pressing forward, to occupy 
also the farm of Mont St. Jean. He 
then could cut the mass of Wellington's 
troops off from their line of retreat 
upon Brussels, and from their own left, 
and also completely sever them from 
any Prussian troops that might be ap- 
proaching. 

The columns destined for this great 
and decisive operation descended ma- 
jestically from the French range of 
hills, and gained the ridge of the inter- 
vening eminence, on which the batteries 
that supported them were now ranged. 
As the columns descended again from 
this eminence, the seventy-four guns 
opened over their heads with terrible 
effect upon the troops of the allies that 
were stationed on the heights to the 
left of Charleroi road. One of the 
French columns kept to the east, and 
attacked the extreme left of the allies ; 
the other three continued to move rap- 
idly forward upon the left centre of 
the allied position. 

Disgraceful Panic. 

The front line of the allies here was 
composed of Bylant's brigade of Dutch 
and Belgians. As the French columns 
moved up the southward slope of the 
height on which the Dutch and Belgi- 
ans stood, and the skirmishers in ad- 
vance began to open their fire, Bylant's 
entire brigade turned and fled in dis- 
graceful and disorderly panic ; but 
there were men more worthy of the 
name behind. 

The second line of the allies here 
consisted of two brigades of the Eng- 
lish infantry, which had suffered se- 
verely at Quatre Bras. But they were 
under Picton, and not even Ney himself 
surpassed in resolute bravery that stern 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOIvEON AT WATERLOO. 



319 



and fiery spirit, Picton brought his 
two brigades forward, side by side, in a 



against the three victorious French 
columns, upward of four times tha^ 




HEROIC CHARGE OF THE ENGLISH CAVALRY AT WATERLOO. 



thin two-deep line. Thus joined to- 
gether, they were not 3000 strong. 
With these Picton had to make head 



strength, and who, encouraged uy the 
easy rout of the Dutch and Belgians, 
now came confidently over the ridge. 



^20 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



The British infantry stood firm ; and 
as the French halted and began to 
deploy into line, Picton seized the 
critical moment : a close and deadly 
volley was thrown in upon them, and 
then with a fierce hurrah the British 
dashed in with the bayonet. The 
French reeled back in confusion ; and 
as they staggard down the hill, a brig- 
ade of the English cavalry rode in on 
them, cutting them down by whole 
battalions, and taking ?ooc> prisoners. 
The British cavalry gailopei forward 
and sabred the artillery-m s/j. of Ney's 
seventy-four advanced guns ■, and then 
cutting the traces and the throats of 
the horses, rendered these guns totally 
useless to the French throughout the 
remainder of the day. In the excite- 
ment of success, the English cavalry 
continued to press on, but were charged 
in their turn, and driven back with 
severe loss by Milhaud's cuirassiers. 

Failure of Great Attack. 

This great attack (in repelling which 
the brave Picton had fallen) had now 
completely failed ; and, at the same 
time, a powerful body of French cuir- 
assiers, who were advancing along the 
right of the Charleroi road, had been 
fairly beaten after a close hand-to-hand 
fight by the heavy cavalry of the Eng- 
lish household brigade. Hougoumont 
was still being assailed, and was suc- 
cessfully resisting. 

Troops were now beginning to ap- 
pear at the edge of the horizon on 
Napoleon's right, which he too well 
knew to be Prussian, though he en- 
deavored to persuade his followers that 
they were Grouchy's men coming to 
aid them. It was now about half-past 
three o'clock ; and though Wellington's 



army had suffered severely by the unre- 
mitting cannonade and in the late des- 
perate encounter, no part of the British 
position had been forced. Napoleon 
next determined to try what effect he 
could produce on the British centre and 
right by charges of his splendid cavalry, 
brought on in such force that the duke's 
cavalry could not check them. 

Stood Like a Wall. 

Fresh troops were at the same time 
sent to assail L<a Haye Sainte and 
Hougoumont, the possession of these 
posts being the emperor's unceasing 
object. Squadron after squadron of 
the French cuirassiers accordingly as- 
cended the slopes on the duke's right, 
and rode forward with dauntless cour- 
age against the batteries of the British 
artillery in that part of the field. The 
artillerymen were driven from their 
guns, and the cuirassiers cheered loudly 
at their supposed triumph. But the 
duke had formed his infantry in squares, 
and the cuirassiers charged in vain 
against the impenetrable hedges of 
bayonets, while the fire from the inner 
ranks of the squares told with terrible 
effect on their squadrons. 

Time after time they rode forward 
with invariably the same result; and as 
they receded from each attack, the 
British artillerymen rushed forward 
from the centres of the squares, where 
they had taken refuge, and plied their 
guns on the retiring horsemen. Nearly 
the whole of Napoleon's magnificent 
body of heavy cavalry was destroyed 
in these fruitless attempts upon the 
British right. But in another part of 
the field fortune favored him for a time. 
Donzelot's infantry took La Haye 
Sainte between six and seven o'clock, 



DOWNFALIv OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



321 



and the means were now given for or- 
ganizing another formidable attack on 
the centre of the allies. 

There was no time to be lost : Blucher 
and Bnlow were beginning to press 
upon the French right ; as early as five 
o'clock, Napoleon had been obliged to 
detach Lobau's infantry and Domont's 
horse to check these new enemies. This 
was done for a time ; but, as large num- 
bers of the Prussians came on the field, 
they turned Lobau's left, and sent a 
strong force to seize the village of 
Planchenoit, which, it will be remem- 
bered, lay in the rear of the French 
right. Napoleon was now obliged to 
send his Young Guard to occupy that 
village, which was accordingly held by 
them with great gallantry against the 
reiterated assaults of the Prussian left 
under Bulow. 

Heroic Defense. 

But the force remaining under Napo- 
leon was now numerically inferior to 
that under the Duke of Wellington, 
which he had been assailing throughout 
the day, without gaining any other ad- 
vantage than the capture of La Haye 
Sainte. It is true that, owing to the 
gross misconduct of the greater part of 
the Dutch and Belgian troops, the duke 
was obliged to rely exclusively on his 
English and German soldiers, and the 
ranks of these had been fearfully 
thinned ; but the survivors stood their 
ground heroically, and still opposed a 
resolute front to every forward move- 
ment of their enemies. 

Napoleon had then the means of effect- 
ing a retreat. His Old Guard had yet 
taken no part in the action. Under 
cover of it, he might have withdrawn 
his sliattered forces and retired upon 

21 



the French frontier. But this would 
only have given the English and Prus- 
sians the opportunity of completing 
their junction; and he knew that other 
armies were fast coming up to aid them 
in a march upon Paris, if he should suc- 
ceed in avoiding an encounter with 
them, and retreating upon the capital. 
A victory at Waterloo was his only 
alternative from utter ruin, and he de- 
termined to employ his Guard in one 
bold stroke more to make that victory 
his own. 

Between seven and eight o'clock the 
infantry of the Old Guard was formed 
into two columns, on the declivity near 
La Belle Alliance. Ney was placed at 
their head. Napoleon himself rode for- 
ward to a spot by which his veterans 
were to pass ; and as they approached he 
raised his arm, and pointed to the posi- 
tion of the allies, as if to tell them, that 
their path lay there. They answered 
with loud cries of "Vive I'Emperor ! " 
and descended the hill from their owo 
side into that "valley of the shadow of 
death," while their batteries thundered 
with redoubled vigor over their heads 
upon the British line. 

Charge on British Centre. 
The line of march of the columns of 
the Guard was directed between Hou- 
goumont and La Haye Sainte, against 
the British right centre; and at the 
same time, Donzelot and the French, 
who had possession of La Haye Sainte, 
commenced a fierce attack upon the 
British centre, a little more to its left. 
This part of the battle has drawn less 
attention than the celebrated attiack of 
the Old Guard ; but it formed the most 
perilous crisis for the allied army ; and 
if the Young Guard had been there to 



322 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



support Donzelot, instead of being en- 
gaged with the Prussians at Planche- 
noit, the consequences to the allies in 
that part of the field must have been 
most serious. 

The French tirailleurs, who were 
posted in clouds in ha. Haye Sainte, 
and the sheltered spots near it, com- 
pletely disabled the artillerymen of the 
English batteries near them ; and, tak- 
ing advantage of the crippled state of 
the English guns, the French brought 
some field-pieces up to La Haye Sainte, 
and commenced firing grape from them 
on the infantry of the allies, at a dis- 
tance of not more than a hundred paces. 
The allied infantry here consisted of 
some German brigades, who were formed 
in squares, as it was believed that Don- 
zelot had cavalry ready behind La Haye 
Sainte to charge them with, if they left 
that order of formation. In this state 
the Germans remained for some time 
with heroic fortitude, though the grape- 
shot was tearing gaps in their ranks, 
and the side of one square was literally 
blown away by one tremendous volley 
which the French gunners poured into it. 

Duke at the Front. 
The Prince of Orange in vain endea- 
vored to lead some Nassau troops to their 
aid. The Nassauers would not or could 
not face the French ; and some battal- 
ions of Brunswickers, whom the Duke 
of Wellington had ordered up as a re- 
enforcement, at first fell back, until the 
Duke in person rallied them and led 
them on. The Duke then galloped off 
to the right to head his men who were 
exposed to the attack of the Imperial 
Guard. He had saved one part of his 
centre from being routed; but the 
French had gained ground here, and 



the pressure on the allied line was severe, 
until it was relieved by the decisive suc- 
cess which the British in the right cen- 
tre achieved over the columns of the 
Guard. 

The British troops on the crest of 
that part of the position, which the first 
column of Napoleon's Guards assailed, 
were Maitland's brigade of British 
Guards, having Adam's brigade on 
their right. Maitland's men were ly- 
ing down, in order to avoid, as far as 
possible, the destructive effect of the 
French artillery, which kept up an un- 
remitting fire from the opposite heights, 
until the first column of the Imperial 
Guard had advanced so far up the slope 
toward the British position that any 
further firing of the French artillery- 
men would endanger their own com- 
rades. 

Ney's Superb Bravery. 

Meanwhile, the British guns were not 
idle ; but shot and shell plowed fast 
through the ranks of the stately array 
of veterans that still moved imposingly 
on. Several of the French superior 
officers were at its head. Ney's horse 
was shot imder him, but he still led the 
way on foot, sword in hand. The front 
of the massy column now was on the 
ridge of the hill. To their surprise, 
they saw no troops before them. All 
they could discern through the smoke 
was a small band of mounted officers. 
One of them was the duke himself. 
The French advanced to about fifty 
yards from where the British Guards 
were lying down, when the voice of 
one of the band of British officers was 
heard calling, as if to the ground before 
him, " Up, Guards, and at them^. '* 

It was the Duke who gave the order ; 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



323 



and at the words, as if by magic, up 
started before tliem a line of British 
Guards four deep, and in the most com- 
pact and perfect order. They poured 
an instantaneous volley upon the head 
of the French column, by which no less 
than three hundred of those chosen 
veterans are said to have fallen. The 
French officers rushed forward, and, 
conspicuous in front of their men, at- 
tempted to deploy them into a more 
extended line, so as to enable them to 
reply with effect to the British fire. 

The French Routed. 

But Maitland's brigade kept shower- 
ing in volley after volley with deadly 
rapidity. The decimated column grew 
disordered in its vain efforts to expand 
itself into a more efficient formation. 
The right word was given at the right 
moment to the British for the bayonet 
charge, and the brigade sprung forward 
with a loud cheer against their dis- 
mayed antagonists. In an instant the 
compact mass of the French spread out 
into a rabble, and they fled back down 
the hill pursued by Maitland's men, 
who, however, returned to their position 
in time to take part in the repulse of the 
second column of the Imperial Guard. 

This column also advanced with great 
spirit and firmness under the cannonade 
which was opened upon it, and, passing 
by the eastern wall of Hougoutnont, 
diverged slightly to the right as it 
moved up the slope toward the British 
position, so as to approach the same 
spot where the first column had sur- 
mounted the height and been defeated. 
This enabled the British regiments of 
Adam's brigade to form a line parallel 
to the left flank of the French column, 
so that while the front of this column ( 



of French Guards had to encounter the 
cannonade of the British batteries, and 
the musketry of Maitland's Guards', its 
left flank was assailed with a destructive 
fire by a four-deep body of British in- 
fantry, extending all along it. 

Veterans Hurled Back. 

In such a position, all the bravery 
and skill of the French veterans were 
in vain. The second column, like its 
predecessor, broke and fled, taking at 
first a lateral direction along the front 
of the British line toward the river of 
La Haye Sainte, and so becoming 
blended with the divisions of French 
infantry, which, under Donzelot, had 
been pressing the allies so severely in 
that quarter. The sight of the Old 
Guard broken and in flight checked 
the ardor which Donzelot's troops had 
hitherto displayed. They, too, began 
to waver. Adam's victorious brigade 
was pressing after the flying Guard, and 
now cleared away the assailants of the 
allied centre. 

But the battle was not yet won. Na- 
poleon had still some battalions in re- 
serve near La Belle Alliance. He was 
rapidly rallying the remains of the first 
column of his Guards, and he had col- 
lected into one body the remnants of 
the various corps of cavalry, which had 
suffered so severely in the earlier part 
of the day. The duke instantly formed 
the bold resolution of now himself be- 
coming the assailant, and leading his 
successful though enfeebled army for- 
ward, while the disheartening effect of 
the repulse of the Imperial Guard on 
the French army was still strong, and 
before Napoleon and Ney could rally 
the beaten veterans themselves for 
another and fiercer charge. 




324 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



325 



As the close approach of the Prus- 
sians now completely protected the 
duke's left, he had drawn some reserves 
of horse from that quarter, and had a 
briirade of Hussars under Vivian fresh 
and ready at hand. Without a moment's 
hesitation, he launched these against 
the cavalry near La Belle Alliance. 
The charge was as successful as it was 
daring ; and as there was now no hostile 
cavalry to check the British infantry in 
a forward movement, the duke gave the 
long-wished-for command for a general 
advance of the army along the whole 
line upon the foe. 

"Nine Deadly Hours." 

It was now past eight o'clock, and 
for nine deadly hours had the British 
and German regiments stood unflinch- 
ing under the fire of artillery, the 
charge of cavalry, and every variety of 
assault that the compact columns or 
the scattered skermishersof the enemy's 
infantry could inflict. As they joyously 
sprang forward against the discomfited 
masses of the French, the setting sun 
broke through the clouds which had 
obscured the sky during the greater 
part of the day, and glittered on the 
bayonets of the allies while they in 
turn poured down into the valley and 
toward the heights that were held by 
the foe. 

Almost the whole of the French host 
was now in irretrievable confusion. 
The Prussian army was coming more 
and more rapidly forward on their right, 
and the Young Guard, which had held 
Planchenoit so bravely, was at last 
compelled to give way. Some regi- 
ments of the Old Guard in vain endea- 
vored to form in squares. They were 
swept away to the rear; and then Na- 



poleon himself fled from the last of his 
many fields, to become in a few weeks 
a captive and an exile. The battle was 
lost by France past all recovery. The 
victorious armies of England and Prus- 
sia, meeting on the scene of their 
triumpli, continued to press forward 
and overwhelm every attempt that was 
made to stem the tide of ruin. 

The British army, exhausted by its 
toils and suffering during that dreadful 
day, did not urge the pursuit beyond 
the heights which the enemy had oc- 
cupied. But the Prussians drove the 
fugitives before them throughout the 
night. And of the magnificent host 
which had that morning cheered theii 
emperor in confident expectation of 
victory, very few were ever assembled 
again in arms. Their loss, both in the 
field and in the pursuit, was immense ; 
and the greater number of those who 
escaped, dispersed as soon as they crossed 
the frontier. 

The army under the Duke of Wel- 
lington lost heavily in killed and 
wounded on this terrible day of battle. 
The loss of the Prussian army was even 
greater. At a fearful price was the de- 
liverance of Europe purchased. 

Battles Compared. 

Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, Colonel of 
the Rough Riders in our war with 
Spain, made some interesting compari- 
sons between the battles of Gettysburg 
and Waterloo, as follows : 

" As the battles of Waterloo and 
Gettysburg, from their size, bloodiness, 
and decisive importance, have so often 
provoked comparison, it may be of 
interest to readers to compare the force 
and loss of the combatants in each. I 
take the fii^fures for Waterloo from the 



326 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOI^ON AT WATERLOO. 



official reports as given by Dorsey 
Gardner in his ' Quatre Bras, Ligny 
and Waterloo,' and the figures for Get- 
tysburg from • Battles and Leaders of 
tlie Civil War,' and from Captain Wil- 
liam F. Fox's 'Regimental Losses in 
the American Civil War.' 

Infantry and Artillery. 

" Unlike Waterloo Gettysburg was al- 
most purely a fight of infantry and artil- 
lery ; the cavalry, which did good work 
Juring the campaign, played no part in 
ihe battle itself, the bulk of the horse of 
ihe two contending armies being at the 
iime engaged in a subsidiary but en- 
iirely distinct fight of their own. The 
troof)S thus engaged should not be in- 
cluded in the actual fighting forces 
employed at Gettysburg itself, any more 
than Grouchy's French and the Prus- 
sians agaiirist whom they were pitted at 
Wavre can be included in the armies 
actually engaged at Waterloo. The 
exclusion will be made in both cases 
and the comparison thereby rendered 
more easy. 

" Even making these exclusions it is 
impossible wholly to reconcile the vari- 
ous authorities, but the following fig- 
ures must be nearly accurate. At Get- 
tysburg there were present in action 
80,000 to 85,000 Union troops, and 
of the Confederate some 65,000. At 
Waterloo there were 120,000 soldiers of 
the Allies under Wellington and Blu- 
cher, and some 72,000 French under 
Napoleon; or, there were about 150,000 
combatants at Gettysburg and about 
190,000 at Waterloo. 

" In each case the weaker army made 
the attack and was defeated. Lee did 
not have to face such heavy odds as 
Napoleon, but whereas Napoleon's de- 



feat was one in which he lost all his 
guns and saw his soldiers become a dis- 
organized rabble, Lee drew off his 
army in good order, his cannon uncap- 
tured, and the morale of his formidable 
soldiers unshaken. 

"The defeated Confederates lost in 
killed and wounded 15,530, and in 
captures 7,467, some of whom were 
likewise wounded, or 23,000 in all ; the 
defeated French lost from 25,000 to 
30,000 — probably nearer the latter num- 
ber. The Confederates thus lost in 
killed and wounded at least 25 per cent, 
of their force, and yet they preserved 
their artillery and their organization, 
while the French suffered an even 
heavier proportional loss and were 
turned into a fleeing mob. 

Heavy Federal Losses. 

"At Gettysburg the Northerns lost 
17,555 killed and wounded and 5435 
missing ; in other words, they suffered 
an actually greater loss than the much 
larger army of Wellington and Blucher; 
relatively it was half as great again, 
being something like 22 per cent, in 
killed and wounded alone. This gives 
some idea of the comparative obstinacy 
of the fighting. 

" But in each case the brunt of the 
battle fell unequally on different or- 
ganizations. At Waterloo the English 
did the heaviest fighting and suffered 
the heaviest loss, and though at Gettys- 
burg no troops behaved badly, as did 
the Dutch-Belgians, yet one or two of 
the regiments composed of foreigners 
certainly failed to distinguish them- 
selves. Meade had seven infantry corps, 
one of which was largely held in re- 
serve. The six that did the actual fight- 
ing may be grouped in pairs. The se- 



DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO. 



327 



cond and third numbered nominally 
23,610 (probably there were in reality 
several hundred less than this), and lost 
in killed and wounded 7586, or 32 per 
cent., and 974 missing, so that these 
two corps, whose aggregate force was 
smaller than that of Wellington's Bri- 
tish regiments at Waterloo, neverthe- 
less suffered a considerably heavier 
loss, and therefore must have done 
bloodier and, on the whole, more obsti- 
nate fighting. 

' ' The First and Eleventh Corps, who 
were very roughly handled the first 
day. make a much worse showing in 
the missing column, but their death 
rolls are evidence of how bravely they 
fought. They had in all 18,600 men, 
of whom 6092, or 32 per cent, were 
killed and wounded and 3733 missing. 
The Fifth and Twelfth Corps, in the 
aggregate of 20,147 nien, lost 2990, or 
15 per cent, killed and wounded and 
278 missing. 

" Thus of the six Union corps which 
did the fighting at Gettysburg four suf- 
fered a relatively much heavier loss in 
killed and wounded than Wellington's 
British at Waterloo, and the other two 
a relatively much heavier loss than 
Blucher's Prussians. 



" In making any comparison between 
the two battles it must, of course, be re- 
membered that one occupied but a sin- 
gle day and the other very nearly three ; 
and it is hard to compare the severity 
of the strain of a long and very bloody, 
with that caused by a short, and only 
less bloodless battle. Gettysburg con- 
sisted of a series of more or less com- 
paratively isolated conflicts ; but owing 
to the loose way in which the armies 
marched into action many of the troops 
that did the heaviest of the fighting 
were engaged for but a portion of the 
time. The Second and Third Corps 
were probably not heavily engaged for 
a very much longer period than the 
British regiments at Waterloo. 

"Both were soldiers' rather than 
generals' battles. Both were waged 
with extraordinary courage and obsti- 
nacy and at a fearful cost of life. Wa- 
terloo was settled by a single desperate 
and exhausting struggle ; Gettysburg 
took longer, was less decisive, and was 
relatively much more bloody. Accord- 
ing to Wellington the chief feature of 
Waterloo was the * hard pounding,' 
and at Gettysburg the pounding — or, 
as Grant called it, the 'hammering' 
— was even harder." 



CHAPTER XXIL 



Decisive Battles of Austerlitz and Jena. 




N the 2 1st of November, 1805, a 
striking and warlike cavalcade 
was traversing at a slow pace a 
wide and elevated plateau in 
Moravia. In front, on a grey horse, rode 
a short, sallow-faced man with dark 
hair and a quick, eager glance, whose 
notice nothing seemed to escape. His 
dress was covered by a grey overcoat, 
which met a pair of long riding-boots, 
and on his head was a low, weather- 
stained cocked hat. 

He was followed by a crowd of officers, 
evidently of high rank, for their uni- 
forms, saddle-cloths, and plumed hats 
were heavily laced, and they had the 
bold, dignified bearing of leaders of 
men. In front and in the flanks of the 
party were scattered watchful vedettes, 
and behind followed a strong squadron 
of picked cavalry in dark green dol- 
mans with furred pelisses slung over 
their shoulders, and huge fur caps sur- 
mounted by tall red plumes. 

The leading horseman rode in silence 
over the plateau, first to one point then 
to another, examining with anxious 
care every feature of the ground. He 
marked carefully the little village from 
which the expanse took its name, and 
the steep declivity which sloped to a 
muddy stream below. No one addressed 
him, for he was a man whose train of 
thought was not to be lightly inter- 
rupted. 

Suddenly, at length, he drew rein, 

and, turning to the body of officers, 

said : "Gentlemen, examine this ground 

carefully. It will be a field of battle, 

328 



upon which you will all have a part to 
act." The speaker was Napoleon. 
His hearers were his generals and staff. 
He had been reconnoitring, surrounded 
and guarded by his devoted Chasseurs 
of the Guard, the plateau of Pratzen, 
the main part of the arena where was 
to be waged in a few days the mighty 
conflict of Austerlitz. 

Napoleon's headquarters were theo 
at Brunn. The French host, therf for 
the first time called the "Grand Army," 
had, at the command of its great chief, 
in the beginning of September broken 
up the camps long occupied on the 
coasts of France in preparation for a 
contemplated invasion of England, and 
had directed its march to the Rhine. 
It was formed in seven corps under 
Bernadotte, Marmont, Davoust, Soult, 
Lannes, Ney, and Augereau, with its 
cavalry under Prince Murat, and the 
Imperial Guard as a reserve. 

The Rhine was crossed at different 
points, and the tide of invasion swept 
upon the valley of the Danube. From 
the beginning the movements had been 
made with a swiftness unprecedented 
in war. Guns and cavalry had been 
moved in ceaseless and unhalting stream 
along every road. Infantry had pressed 
forward by forced marches, and had 
been aided in its onward way by wheeled 
transports at every available oppor- 
tunity. 

The Emperor had resolved to strike 
a blow by land against his foes which 
should counterbalance the several checks 
which the indomitable navy of England 



BATTLES OF AUSTERUTZ AND JENA. 



320 



had inflicted on his fleets at sea. Austria 
and Russia were in arms against France, 
and he was straining every nerve to en- 
counter and shatter their separate forces 
before they would unite in overwhelm- 
ing power. The campaign had opened 
for him with a series of brilliant suc- 
cesses. The veterans of the revolution- 
ary wars, of Italy and of Egypt, di- 
rected by his mightv genius, had proved 
themselves irresistible. 

The Austrians had been the first to 
meet the shock, and had been defeated 
at every point — Gunzberg, Haslach, 
Albeck, Elchingen, Memmingen — and 
the first phase of the struggle had closed 
with the capitulation at Ulm of Gen- 
eral Mack with 30,000 men. 

Brilliant Successes. 

But there had been no stay in the 
rush of the victorious French. The 
first defeats of the Austrian army had 
been rapidly followed up. The corj^s 
which had escaped from the disaster at 
Ulm were pursued and, one after an- 
other, annihilated. The Tyrol was 
overrun, and its strong positions occu- 
pied by Marshal Ney. From Italy 
came the news of Massena's successes 
against the celebrated Archduke 
Charles, and at Dirnstein Marshal Mor- 
tier had defeated the first Russian army 
under Kutusow. 

The Imperial headquarters had been 
established at Schonbrunn, the home 
of the Emperor of Austria. Vienna 
had been occupied and the bridge 
across the Danube seciired by Lannes 
and Murat. Kutusow, after his defeat 
at Dirnstein, had been driven back 
through HoUabrunn on Brunn by the 
same marshals at the head of the French 
advanced guard, and had now joined 



the second Russian army, with which 
was its Emperor Alexander in person, 
and an Austrian force under Prince 
Eichtenstein, accompanied by the Em- 
peror of Austria. 

The main body of the "Grand Ar- 
my" had, under Napoleon, followed 
its advanced guard into the heart of 
Moravia. Its headquarters and imme- 
diate base were now at Brunn, but its 
position was sufficiently critical, at the 
extremity of a long line of operations, 
numbering less than 70,000 disposable 
men, while the Russo-Austrian army 
in front amounted to 92,000. So rapid 
had been the movements since the camp 
at Boulogne was left, that the common 
saying passed in the ranks that " Our 
Emperor does not make use of our arms 
in this war so much as of our legs ;" 
and the grave result of this constant 
swiftness had been that many soldiers 
had fallen to the rear from indisposition 
or fatigue, and even the nominal 
strength of corps was thus for the time 
seriously diminished. It is recorded 
that in the Chasseurs a-Cheval of the 
Guard alone there was a deficiency of 
more than four hundred men from this 
cause. But all these laggards were 
doing their best to rejoin the army be- 
fore the great battle took place which 
all knew to be inevitable, and in which 
all were eager to bear their part. 

The Army Resting. 
Napoleon had himself arrived at 
Brunn on the 20th of November, and 
during the following days till the 27th 
he allowed his army a measure of re- 
pose to enable it to recover its strength 
after its long toils— to repair its arms, 
its boots and worn material, and to 
rally every man under its eagles. His 



330 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



advanced guard had been pushed for- 
ward under Murat towards Wischau on 
the Ohnutz road, Soult's corps on his 
right had pressed Kutusow's retreat to- 
wards Austerlitz, and the remainder 
were disposed in various positions to 
watch Hungary and Bohemia and to 
maintain his hold upon Vienna. 

Guard Driven Back. 

On the 27th tire French advanced 
guard was attacked and driven back by 
tlie Russians at Wiscliau, and certain 
information arrived that this had been 
done by a portion of the main Russian 
army und^r the Emperor Alexander. 
It had been thought possible by Napo- 
leon that peaceful negotiations might 
be opened, but this confident advance 
of his enemies seemed to show that they 
had by no means lost heart, and when 
on the 28th he had a personal interview 
with Prince Dolgorouki, the favorite 
of Alexander, he found the Russian 
proposals so insulting and presumptu- 
ous that he broke off abruptly any fur- 
ther communication. 

We have seen Napoleon reconnoiter- 
ing on the 21st of November, and we 
have marked the marvellous coup d'' cbU 
and prescience with which he foresaw 
the exact spot where the great battle, 
then looming before him, must take 
place. Every succeeding day saw the 
reconnoissance renewed, and never was 
a battle-field more thoroughly exam- 
ined, never was forecast by a general of 
the actual turn of events to be expected 
more completely justified by fulfilment. 

It had become certain that the united 
army of two mighty empires was close 
at hand. From the tone of Dolgorouki's 
communication it was evident that both 
the Russian and Austrian monarchs had 



resolved to trust their fortunes to the 
ordeal of battle, and that they, with 
their generals and soldiery, were eager 
to retrieve their previous misfortunes, 
and full of confidence that they would 
do so. That confidence had been in- 
creased by the repulse of the French 
advanced guard at Wischau ; and they 
now longed to complete their work by 
pouring their superior numbers on the 
comparatively weak French main body. 

With this knowledge before him, 
Napoleon proceeded to carry out the 
plan of action which he had carefully 
matured. To the astonishment of many 
veterans in his army, a general retreat 
of his advanced troops was ordered. 
Murat fell back from Posoritz and Soult 
from near Austerlitz. But this retro- 
grade movement was short, and they 
were halted on the ground chosen by 
Napoleon for his battle-line. The out- 
lying corps of Bernadotte and Davoust 
was summoned to complete his array. 
Munitions, food, ambulances were hur- 
ried to their appointed posts, and it was 
announced that the battle would be 
fought on the ist or 2d of December- 
Daring Strategy. 

The line of a nniddy stream, called 
the Goldbach, marked the front of the 
French army. This stream takes its 
source across the Ohnutz road, and 
flowing through a dell, of which the 
sides are steep, discharges itself into 
the Menitz Lake. At the top of its 
high left bank stretches the wide Prat- 
zen plateau, and it appeared to Napo- 
leon's staff that he had made an error 
in relinquishing such a vantage ground 
to his enemy ; but he told them that 
he had done so of set purpose, saying, 
"If I remained master of this fine 



BATTI.es of AUSTERIvITZ and JENA. 



331 



plateau, I could here check the Rus- 
sians, but then I should only have an 
ordinary victory ; whereas by giving it 
to them and refusing my right, if they 
dare to descend from these heights in 
order to outflank me, I secure that they 
shall be lost beyond redemption." 

Let us examine the positions occupied 
by the French and the Austro-Russian 
armies at the close of November, and 
we shall the better understand the 
general strategy of the two combatant 
forces and the tactics which each made 
use of when they came into collision. 
The Emperor Napoleon rested his left, 
under Lannes and Murat, on a rugged 
eminence, which those of his soldiers 
who had served in Egypt called the 
" Santon," because its crest was crowned 
by a little chapel, of which the roof 
had a fancied resemblance to a minaret. 

An Impi*egnable Fortress. 

This eminence he had strengthened 
with field works, armed and provisioned 
like a fortress. He had, by repeated 
visits, satisfied himself that his orders 
were properly carried out, and he had 
committed its defence to special defend- 
ers under the command of General 
Claparede, impressing upon them that 
they must be prepared to fire their last 
cartridge at their post and, if necessary, 
there to die to the last man. 

His centre was on the right bank of 
the Goldbach. There were the corps 
of Soult and Bernadotte, the Grenadiers 
of Duroc and Oudinot, and the Imperial 
Guard with forty guns. Their double 
lines were concealed by the windings 
of the stream, by scattered clumps of 
wood, and by the features of the ground. 

His right was entrusted to Davoust's 
corps, summoned in haste to the battle- 



field, and of which only a division of 
infantry and one of Dragoons had been 
able to come into line. They were 
posted at Menitz, and had the defiles 
passing the Menitz Lake and the two 
other lakes of Telnitz and Satschau. 
Napoleon's line of battle was thus an 
oblique one, with its right thrown back. 
It had the appearance of being only 
defensive, if not actually timid, its cen- 
tre not more than sufiiciently occupied, 
its right extremely weak, and only its 
left formidable and guaranteed against 
any but the most powerful attack. 

Setting a Trap. 

But the great strategist had weighed 
well his methods. He trusted that the 
foe would be tempted to commit them- 
selves to an attack on his right, essay- 
ing to cut his communications and line 
of retreat on Vienna. If they could be 
led into this trap, the difficulty of 
movement in the ground cut up by 
lake, stream, and marsh would give to 
Davoust the power to hold them in 
check until circumstances allowed of 
aid being given to him. Meantime, 
with his left impregnable and his centre 
ready to deal a crushing blow, he ex- 
pected to be able to operate against 
the Russo-Austrian flank and rear with 
all the advantage due to unlooked-for 
strength. 

The right of the Russo-Austrians, 
commanded by the Princes Bagration 
and Ivichtenstein, rested on a wooded 
hill near Posoritz across the Olmutz 
road. Their centre, under Kollowrath, 
occupied the village of Pratzen and the 
large surrounding plateau ; while their 
left, under Doctorof and Kienmyer, 
stretched towards the Satchau Lake 
and the adjoining marshes. 



332 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



The villag-e of Austerlitz was some 
distance in the rear of the Rnsso-Ans- 
trian position, and had no immediate 
connection with the movements of the 
troo]DS employed on either side, but the 
Emperors of Russia and Austria slept 
in it on the night before the battle, and 
Napoleon afterwards accentuated the 
greatness of his victory by naming it 
after the place from which he had 
chased them. 

An Unequal Contest. 

The two great armies now in presence 
of each other were markedly unequal 
in strength — 92,000 men were opposed 
to 70,000, and the advantage of 22,000 
was to the allies. But this inequality 
was to a great extent compensated by 
the tactical dispositions of the leader 
of the weaker force. Of the two an- 
tagonist lines, one was wholly exposed 
to view, the other to a great extent 
concealed — first advantage to the latter. 
They formed, as it were, two parallel 
arcs of a circle, but that of the French 
was the more compact and uninter- 
rupted — second advantage ; and this 
last was soon to be increased by the 
imprudent Russian manoeuvres. The 
two armies, barely at a distance of two 
cannon-shot from each other, had by 
mutual tacit consent formed their biv- 
ouacs, piled arms, fed and reposed 
peaceably around their fires, the one 
covered by a thick cloud of Cossacks, 
the other by a sparse line of vedettes. 

Napoleon quitted Brunn early in the 
morning of the ist of December, and 
employed the whole of that day in ex- 
amining the positions which the differ- 
ent portions of his army occupied. His 
headquarters were established in the 
rear of the centre of his line at a hieli 



point, from which could be seen the 
bivouacs of both French and allies, as 
well as the ground on which the mor- 
row's issue would be fought out. The 
cold was intense, but there was no snow. 
The only shelter that could be found 
for the ruler of France was a dilapidated 
hut, in which were placed the Empe- 
ror's table and maps. 

The Grenadiers had made up a huge 
fire hard by, and his travelling carriage 
was drawn up, in which he could take 
such sleep as his anxieties would per- 
mit. The divisions of Duroc and Oud- 
inot bivouacked between him and the 
enemy, while the Guard lay round him 
and towards the rear. 

A Huge Blunder. 

In the late afternoon of the same day 
Napoleon was watching the allied posi- 
tion through his telescope. On the 
Pratzen plateau could be seen a general 
flank movement of Russian columns, in 
the rear of their first line, from their 
centre to their left and towards the 
front of the French position at Telnitz. 
It was evidently supposed by the enemy 
that the French intended to act only on 
the defensive, that nothing was to be 
feared from them in front, and that the 
allies had only to throw their masses 
on their right, cut off their retreat upon 
Vienna, and thus inflict upon them a 
certain and disastrous defeat. 

It was forgotten by the Russo-Aus- 
trians that in thus moving their princi- 
pal forces to the left, the centre of their 
position was weakened, and on the 
right their own line of operations and 
retreat was left entirely unprotected. 
When Napoleon detected what was be- 
ing done, trembling with satisfaction 
and clapping his hands, he said : "What 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



333 



a manoeuvre to be ashamed of! They 
are running into the trap ! They are 
giving themselves up ! Before to-mor- 
row evening that army will be in my 
hands!" In order still more to add to 
the confidence of his enemy and to en- 
courage them in the prosecution of their 
mistaken plan, he ordered Murat to 
sally forth from his own position with 
some cavalry, to manoeuvre as if show- 
ing uneasiness and hesitation, and then 
to retire with an air of alarm. 

Promises Victory. 

This order given, he returned im- 
mediately to his bivouac, dictated and 
issued his famous proclamation in 
which he assured his army that the 
Austro-Russians were exposing their 
flank and were offering certain glory to 
the soldiers of France as a reward for 
their valor in the coming struggle : 
he said that he himself would direct 
their battalions, but that he would not 
expose himself to danger unless success 
was doubtful, and he promised that 
after their victory, they should have 
comfortable cantonments and peace. 

The evening of the ist of December 
closed in. The allied movement to- 
wards their left was still continuing, 
and Napoleon, after renewing his or- 
ders, again visiting his parks and ambu- 
lances and satisfying himself by his 
own observation that all was in order, 
tlirew himself on a bundle of straw and 
slept. About eleven o'clock he was 
awakened and told that a sharp attack 
had been made on one of the villages 
occupied by his right, but that it had 
been repulsed. This further confirmed 
his forecast of the allied movements, 
but, wishing to make a last reconnais- 
sance of his enemy's position, he again 



mounted, and, followed by Junot, Duroc, 
Berthier, and some others of his staff", 
he ventured between the two armies. 

As he closely skirted the enemy's line 
of outposts, in spite of several warnings 
that he was incurring great risk, he, in 
the darkness, rode into a picket of 
Cossacks. These sprang to arms and 
attacked him so suddenly that he would 
certainly have been killed or taken pris- 
oner if it had not been for the devoted 
courage of his escort, which engaged 
the Cossacks while he turned his horse 
and galloped back to the French lines. 
His escape was so narrow and precipi- 
tate that he had to pass without choos- 
ing his way the marshy Goldbach 
stream. 

"A Cry was Raised." 

His own horse and those of several of 
his attendants — amongst others Ywan, 
his surgeon, who never left his person 
— were for a time floundering helpless 
in the deep mud, and the Emperor was 
obliged to make his way on foot to his 
headquarters past the fires round which 
his soldiers were lying. In the obscur- 
ity he stumbledover a fallen tree-trnnk; 
and it occurred to a grenadier who saw 
him, to twist and nse some straw as a 
torch, holding it over his head to light 
the path of his sovereign. 

In the middle of the anxious night, 
full of disquietude and anticipation, the 
eve of the anniversary of the Emperor's 
coronation, the face of Napoleon, lighted 
np and suddenly displayed by this flame, 
appeared almost as a vision to the 
soldiers of the nearest bivouacs. A cry 
was raised, "It is the anniversary of 
the coronation ! Vive I'Empereur!" — 
an outburst of loyal ardor which Na- 
poleon in vain attempted to check with 



334 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



the words, "Silence till to-morrow. 
Now you have only to sharpen your 
bayonets." 

But tlie same thought, the same cry, 
was taken up and flew with lightning- 
quickness from bivouac to bivouac. All 
made torches of whatever material was 
at hand. Some pulled down the field- 
shelters for the purpose — some used the 
straw that had been collected to form 
their beds ; and in an instant, as if by 
enchantment, thousands of lights flared 
upwards along the whole French line, 
and by thousands of voices the cry was 
repeated, "Vive I'Empereur !" Thus 
was improvised, within sight of the as- 
tonished enemy, the most striking of 
illuminations, the most memorable of 
demonstrations, by which the admira- 
tion and devotion of a whole army ^ive 
ever been shown to its general. 

His Happiest Night. 

It is said that the Russians believed 
the French to be burning their shelt- 
ers as a preliminary to retreat, and 
that their confidence was thereby in- 
creased. As to Napoleon, though at 
first annoyed at the outburst, he was 
soon gratified and deeply touched by 
the heart-felt enthusiasm displayed, and 
said that "This night is the happiest of 
my life." For some time he continued 
to move from bivouac to bivouac, tell- 
ing his soldiers how much he appreci- 
ated their affection, and saying those 
kindly and encouraging words which 
no one better than he knew how to use. 

The morning began to break on the 
2d of December. As he buckled on his 
sword, Napoleon said to the staff gath- 
ered round — " Now, gentlemen, let us 
commence a great day." He mounted, 
and from different points were seen ar- 



riving to receive his last orders the 
renowned chiefs of his various corpS' 
d^ armee^ each followed by a single aide- 
de-camp. There were Marshal Prince 
Murat, Marshal Lannes, Marshal Soult, 
Marshal Bernadotte, and Marshal Da- 
voust. What a formidable circle of 
men, each of whom had already gath- 
ered glory on many different fields ! 

Matchless Murat. 

Murat, distinctively the cavalry. gen- 
eral of France, the intrepid paladin who 
had led his charging squadrons on all 
the battle-fields of Italy and Egypt ; 
Ivannes, whose prowess at Montebello 
had made victory certain ; Soult, the 
veteran of the long years of war on the 
Rhine and in Germany, the hero of 
Altenkirchen, and Massena's most dis- 
tinguished lieutenant at the battle of 
Zurich ; Bernadotte, not more renowned 
as a general in the field than as the 
minister of war who prepared the con- 
quest of Holland ; Davoust, the stern 
disciplinarian and leader, unequalled 
for cool gallantry and determiinfttion — 
all were gathered at this supreme mo- 
ment round one of the greatest masters 
of war in ancient or modern times, to 
receive his inspiration and to part like 
thunder-clouds bearing the storm which 
was to shatter the united armies of two 
Empires. 

The Emperor's general plan of action 
was already partly known, but he now 
repeated it to his marshals in detail. 
He was more than ever certain, from 
the last reports which he had received, 
that the enemy was continuing the flank 
movement, and would hurl the heaviest 
attacks on the French right near Tel- 
nitz. 

To Davoust was entrusted the duty 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



335 



of holding the extreme right and check- 
ing, in the defiles formed by the lakes, 
the heads of the enemy's columns 
which, since the previous day, had been 
more and more entangling themselves 
in these difficult passes. 

Of Soult's three divisions, one was to 
assist Davoust on the right, while the 
other two, already formed in columns 
of attack, were to hold themselves ready 
to throw their force on the Pratzen 
plateau. 

Bernadotte's two divisions were to 
advance against the same position on 
Soult's left. This combined onslaught 
of four divisions on the centre of the 
Rtisso-Austrians which they had weak- 
ened by the movement to their left, 
would be supported by the Emperor 
himself with the Imperial Guard and 
the Grenadiers of Oudinot and Duroc. 
Lannes was ordered to hold the left, 
particularly the " Santon " height; 
while Prince Murat, at the head of his 
horsemen, was to charge through the 
intervals of the infantry upon the allied 
cavalry which appeared to be in great 
strength in that part of the field. 

Napoleon's Strategy. 
It was thus Napoleon's intention to 
await and check the enemy's attacks 
which might be expected on .both his 
flanks, and more especially on his right, 
while he himself made a determined 
and formidable movement against their 
centre, where he hoped to cut them in 
two, and then, from the dominant posi- 
tion of the Pratzen plateau, turn an 
overwhelming force against the masses 
on 'their too-far-advanced left, which, 
entangled and cramped in its action 
among the lakes, would then be crushed 
or forced to yield as prisoners. 



It was eight o'clock. The thick 
wintry mist hung in the valley of the 
Goldbach and rolled upwards to the 
Pratzen plateau. Its obscurity, height- 
ened by the lingering smoke of bivouac 
fires, concealed the French columns of 
attack. The thunder of artillery and 
the rattle of musketry told that the al- 
lied attack on the French right had 
begun and was being strenuously re- 
sisted, while silence and darkness 
reigned over the rest of the line. Sud- 
denly, over the heights, the sun rose, 
brilliantly piercing the mist and light- 
ing the battle-field — the " Sun of Aus- 
terlitz," of which Napoleon ever after 
loved to recall the remembrance. 

Furious Onslaught. 

The moment of action for the French 
centre had come, and the corps of Soult 
and Bernadotte, led by the divisions of 
Vandamme and St. Hilaire, rushed for- 
wards. No influence that could animate 
the minds of these gallant troops was 
wanting. They fought directly under the 
eye of their Emperor. They were led 
by chiefs in whom they had implicit 
confidence. 

The Pratzen height was escladed at 
the double, attacked in front and on 
the right and left, and the appearance 
of the assailants was so sudden and un- 
expected, as they issued from the cur- 
tain of mist, that the Russians were 
completely surprised. They had no 
defensive formation ready, and were 
still occupied in the movement towards 
their left. They hastily formed in three 
lines, however, and some of their ar- 
tillery were able to come into action. 
Their resistance was feeble. One after 
another, their lines, broken by the stern 
bavonet charpe, were driven back in 



336 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



hopeless confusion, and at nine o'clock 
Napoleon was master of the Pratzen 
plateau. 

Meanwhile, on the left, Lannes and 
Murat were fighting- an independent 
battle with the Princes Lichtenstein 
and Bagration. Murat, as the senior 
marshal and brother-in-law of the Em- 
peror, was nominally the superior ; but, 
in real fact, Lannes, directed the opera- 
tions of the infantry, which Murat pow- 
erfully supplemented and aided with 
his cavalry. General Caffarelli's divi- 
sion was formed on the plain on Lan- 
ues's right, while General Suchet's di- 
vision was on his left, supported by the 
"Santon" height, from which poured 
the fire of eighteen heavy guns. 

Dashing Cavalry Charge. 

The light cavalry brigades of Mil- 
haud and Treilhard were pushed for- 
ward in observation across the high 
road to Olmutz. The cavalry divisions 
of Kellermann, Walther, Nansouty, and 
d'Hautpoul were disposed in two mas- 
sive columns of squadrons on the right 
of Caffarelli. Against this array were 
brought eighty-two squadrons of ca- 
valry under lyichtenstein, supported by 
the serried divisions of Bagration's 
infantry and a heavy force of artil- 
lery. 

The combat was commenced by the 
light cavalry of Kellermann, which 
charged and overthrew the Russo-Aus- 
trian advanced guard. Attacked in turn 
by the Uhlans of the Grand Duke Con- 
stantine, Kellermann retired through 
the intervals of Caffarelli's division, 
which, by a well-sustained fire in two 
ranks,'^checked the Uhlans and emptied 
many of their saddles. Kellermann re- 
formed his division and again charged, 



supported by Sebastiani's brigade of 
Dragoons, 

Then followed a succession of charges 
by the chivalry of France, led by Mu- 
rat with all the elan of his boiling cour- 
age. Kellermann, Walther, and Sebas- 
tiani were all wounded, the first two 
generals seriously. In the last of these 
charges the 5tli Chasseurs, commanded 
by Colonel Corbineau, broke the forma- 
tion of a Russian battalion and cap- 
tured its standard. Caffarelli's infantry 
were close at hand, and, pushing for- 
ward, made an Austrian battalion lay 
down its arms. 

A regiment of Russian Dragoons 
made a desperate advance to rescue 
their comrades, and, mistaking them 
for Bavarians in the smoke and turmoil, 
Murat ordered the French infantry to 
cease firing. The Russian Dragoons, 
thus encountering no resistance, pene- 
trated the French ranks and almost 
succeeded in taking Murat himself pri- 
soner. But, consummate horseman and 
man-at-arms as he was, he cut his way 
to safety through the enemy, at the 
head of his personal escort. 

The Russians Hurled Back. 

The allies profited by this diversion 
to again assume the offensive. Then 
came the opportunity for the gigantic 
Cuirassiers of Nansouty, which hurled 
the Russian cavalry back upon their 
infantry, and, in three successive on- 
slaughts, scattered the infantry itself, 
inflicting terrible losses with their long, 
heavy swords, and seizing eight pieces 
of artillery. The whole of Caffarelli's 
division advanced, supported by orfe of 
Bernadotte's divisions from the centre, 
and, changing its front to the right, cut 
the centre of Bagration's infantry. 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



driving its greater part towards Pratzen, 
separated from those who still fought 
at the extremity of their line. 

The Austro-Russian cavalry rallied 
in support of Bagration, who was now 
hotly pressed by Suchet. Then came 
a magnificently combined movement of 
Dragoons, Cuirassiers, and infantry. 
The Dragoons drove back the Austro- 
Russian squadrons behind their infan- 
try. Simultaneously followed the lev- 
elled bayonets of Suchet's division and 
the crushing shock of d'HautpouPs 
mail-clad warriors. The victory was 
decided — the Russian battalions were 
crushed, losing a standard, eleven guns, 
and 1, 800 prisoners. 

Allied Army Shattered. 

The rout was completed by the rapid 
advance of the light cavalry brigades 
of Treilhard and Milhaud on the left, 
and of Kellermann on the right, which 
swept away all that encountered them, 
and drove the shattered allied troops 
towards the village of Austerlitz. The 
Russo-Austrian losses on this part of 
the field of battle amounted to 1,200 
or 1,500 killed, 7,000 or 8,000 prisoners, 
two standards, and twenty-seven pieces 
of artillery. 

While Napoleon had thus struck a 
heavy blow at the allied centre and had 
been completely victorious on his left, 
his right, under Davoust, was with diffi- 
culty holding its own against Buxhow- 
den (who had assumed the command of 
the columns of Doctorof and Kien- 
mayer), and but that the masses brought 
against it were unable to deploy their 
strength it must inevitably have been 
crushed. Thirty thousand foemen of 
all arms were pressing in assault upon 
to,ooo French, already wearied by a 
22 



long and rapid march to their position 
at Raygern. But Davoust was able to 
concentrate what power he had, and to 
meet at advantage the heads only of 
the columns which were winding their 
way along the narrow passes that opened 
between the lakes and through the 
marshy ground in his front. 

A Critical Moment. 

Even so the strain was terrible, and 
would have been more than less hardy 
troops under a less able and determined 
leader could have stood. But Napoleon 
was quite alive to the necessities of the 
gallant soldiers who were standing their 
ground so staunchly. He ordered his 
reserve of Grenadiers and the Imperial 
Guard to move up to the support of his 
right centre and to threaten the flank 
of the columns that were attacking- 
Davoust, while he also directed the two 
divisions of Soult's corps, which had 
made the attack on the Pratzen plateau 
against Buxhowden's rear. 

It was one o'clock, and at this mo- 
ment, while the orders just given were 
being executed, the Russian infantry, 
supported by the Russian Imperial 
Guard, made a desperate effort to re- 
trieve the fortunes of the day near 
Pratzen, and threw themselves in a 
fierce bayonet charge on the divisions 
of Vandamme and St Hilaire, which 
offered a stout resistance. But, with 
the Russian Guard ready to join in the 
combat, the odds against the French 
divisions were too great. It was the 
crisis of the day. 

Napoleon, from the commanding po- 
sition where he stood, saw before him 
the Emperor Alexander's guard advanc- 
ing in dense masses to regain their 
morning position and to sweep before 



338 



BATTLES OF AUSTERUTZ AND JENA. 



them his men, wearied and harassed 
by the day's struggle. At the same 
time he heard on his right the redoubled 
fire of the advanced Russian left, which 
was pressing Davoust and was threat- 
enins: his rear. From the continued 
t and increasing roar of musketry and 
artillery it almost seemed as if success 
must, after all, attend the great flank 
movement of the allies. Small wonder 
if even his war-hardened nerves felt a 
thrill of confusion and anxiety when 
he saw dimly appearing through the 
battle smoke another black mass of 
moving troops. 

Panic- Stricken Fugitives. 

" Ha ! Can those, too, be Russians ?" 
he exclaimed to the solitary staff-officer 
whom the exigencies of the day had 
still left at his side. Another look re- 
assured him, however. The tall bear- 
skins of the moving column showed 
him that it was his own Guard, which, 
under Duroc, was moving towards the 
lakes to the support of Soult and Da- 
voust. His right and rear were, at any 
rate so far safe. 

But the Russian intantry attack had 
been followed by a headlong charge of 
the Chevalier Guards and Cuirassiers of 
the Russian Guard, under the Grand 
Duke Constantine, brother of the Em- 
peror Alexander, supported by numer- 
ous lines of cavalry. So well led and 
so impetuous was the attack, that the 
two battalions on the left of Vandam- 
me's division were broken and swept 
away in headlong flight. One of these 
battalions belonged to the 4th of the 
line, of which Napoleon's brother Joseph 
was colonel, and the Emperor saw it 
lose its eagle and abandon its position, 
shattered and destroyed, forming the 



one dark spot to sully the brilliancy of 
French steadfastness on that day of 
self-devotion. 

The tide of panic-stricken fugitives 
almost surged against the Emperor 
himself. All efforts to rally them were 
in vain. Maddened with fear, they 
heard not the voices of generals and 
officers imploring them not to abandon 
the field of honor and their Emperor. 
Their only response was to gasp out 
mechanically: "Vive I'Empereur!" 
while still hurrying their frantic pace. 
Napoleon smiled at them in pity ; then, 
with a gesture of contempt, he said : 
"Let them go ! " and, still calm in the 
midst of the turmoil, sent General 
Rapp to bring up the cavalry of his 
Guard. 

A Bloody Struggle. 

Rapp was titulai '^olonel of the Ma- 
melukes, a corps which reached the 
glories of Egypt and the personal re- 
gard which Napoleon, as a man, had 
been able to inspire into Orientals. 
They, with the Grenadiers-a-Cheval 
and the Chasseurs of the Guard, now 
swooped upon the Russian squadrons. 
The struggle of the melee was bloody 
and obstinate between the picked 
horsemen of Western and Eastern 
Europe; but the Russian. chivalry was 
at length overwhelmed and driven back 
with immense loss. 

Many standards and prisoners fell 
into the hands of the French, amongst 
others Prince Repnin, Colonel of the 
Chevalier Guard, His regiment, whose 
ranks were filled with men of the 
noblest families in Russia, had fought 
with a valor worthy of their name, and 
lay almost by ranks upon the field. It 
had been the mark of the giant Grena- 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



339 



diers-a-Cheval, whose savage war-cry 
in the great charge had been, as they 
swayed their heavy sabres, " I^et us 
make the dames of St. Petersburg weep 
to-day ! ' ' 

When success was assured, Rapp re- 
turned to report to Napoleon — a war- 
like figure, as he approached, alone, at 
a gallop, with proud mein, the light of 
battle in his eye, his sword dripping 
with blood and a sabre cut on his fore- 
head. 

A Gallant Exploit. 

"Sire, we have overthrown and de- 
stroyed the Russian Guard and taken 
their artillery." 

•'It was gallantly done : I saw it," 
replied the Emperor. "But you are 
wounded." 

"It is nothing, sire: it is only a 
scratch.'' 

" It is another quartering of nobility, 
and I know of none that can be more 
illustrious." 

Immediately afterwards the young 
Count Apraxin, an officer of artillery 
who had been taken prisoner by the 
Chasseurs, was brought before Napo- 
leon. He struggled, wept, and wrung 
his hands in despair, crying : " I have 
lost my battery ; I am dishonored : 
would that I could die ! " Napoleon 
tried to console and soothe him with the 
words, "Calm yourself, young man, 
and learn that there is never disgrace 
in being conquered by Frenchmen." 

The French army was now com- 
pletely successful on its centre and left. 
In the distance could be seen, retiring 
towards Austerlitz, the remains of the 
Russian reserves, which had relin- 
quished hope of regaining the central 
plateau and abandoned Buxhowden's 



wing to its fate. Their retreat was 
harassed by the artillery of the Impe- 
rial Guard, whose fire ploughed through 
their long columns, carrying with it 
death and consternation. Napoleon left 
to Murat and Lannes the completion of 
their own victory. To Bernadotte, with 
the greater part of the Guard, he entrust- 
ed the final crushing of the enemies who 
had been driven from the Pratzen pla- 
teau ; while he himself, with all of 
Soult's corps, the remainder of his cav- 
alry, infantry, and reserve artillery de- 
scended from the heights and threw 
himself on the rear of the Austro-Rus- 
sian left near Telnitz and the lakes. 
This unfortunate wing — nearly 30,000 
men — had in vain striven, since the 
moi ning, to force its way through Da- 
voi/st's 10,000. 

Valor Was in Vain. 

Now, still checked in front and en- 
tangled in the narrow roads by the 
Goldbach and the lakes, it found itself 
in hopeless confusion, attacked and 
ravaged with fire from three sides simul- 
taneously by Davoust, Soult, Duroc 
with his Grenadiers and Vandamme. 
It fought with a gallantry and stern- 
ness which drew forth the admiration 
of its enemies, but surrounded, driven, 
overwhelmed, it could not hope to ex- 
tricate itself from its difficulties. There 
was no way of escape open but the 
Menitz lake itself, whose frozen surface 
seemed to present a path to safety, and 
in an instant the white expanse was 
blackened by the flying multitude. 

The most horribly disastrous phase 
of the whole battle was at hand. The 
shot of the French artillery which was 
firing on the retreat broke the ice at 
many points, and its frail support gave 



340 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



way. The water welled through the 
cracks and washed over the broken 
fragments. Thousands of Russians, 
with horses, artillery and train, sank 
into the lake and were engulfed. Few 
succeeded in struggling to the shore 
and taking advantage of the ropes and 
other assistance which their conquerors 
strove to put within their reach. About 
2,000, who had been able to remain on 
the road between the two lakes, made 
good their retreat. The remainder were 
either dead or prisoners. 

Suspected Traitor. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon the 
battle was over, and there was nothing 
left for the French to do but to pursue 
and collect the spoils of their conquest. 
This duty was performed with energy 
by all the commanders except Berna- 
dotte (even then more than suspected 
of disloyalty to his great chief), who 
allowed the whole of the Russo- Aus- 
trian right, which had been defeated 
by Lannes and Murat and driven from 
its proper line of retreat on Olmutz, to 
defile scatheless past his front and to 
seek shelter in the direction of Hungary. 

After the great catastrophe on the 
Menitz lake which definitely sealed the 
issue of the conflict, Napoleon passed 
slowly along the whole battle-field, 
from the French right to their left. 
The ground was covered with piles of 
the poor remains of those who had died 
a soldier's death, and with vast numbers 
of wounded laid suffering on the frozen 
plain. Surgeons and ambulances wej,Q 
already everywhere at work, but their 
efforts were feeble in comparison with 
the shattered, groaning multitude who 
were in dire need of help. The Emperor 
paused by every disabled follower and 



spoke words of sympathy and comfort. 
He himself, with his personal attend- 
ants and his staff, did all in their power 
to mitigate the pangs of each and to 
give some temporary relief till better 
assistance should arrive. 

As the shades of night fell on the 
scene of slaughter and destruction, the 
mist of the morning again rolled over 
the plain, bringing with it an icy rain, 
which increased the darkness. Na- 
poleon ordered the strictest silence to 
be maintained, that no faint cry from 
a miserable sufferer should pass un- 
heard ; and his surgeon Ywan, with his 
Mameluke orderly Roustan, gave to 
many a one, who would otherwise have 
died, a chance of life by binding up 
their hurts and restoring their powers 
with a draught of brandy from the Im- 
perial canteen. 

Care for the Wounded. 

It was nearly ten o'clock at night 
when the Emperor arrived at the Ol- 
mutz road, having almost felt his way 
from one wounded man to another as 
they lay where each attack had been 
made and each stubborn defense main- 
tained. He passed the night at the 
small posthouse of Posoritz, supping on 
a share of the soldiers' rations, which 
was brought from the nearest bivouac, 
and issuing order after order about 
searching for the wounded and convey- 
ing them to the field hospitals. Though 
many of the most noted leaders in the; 
French army were wounded in the 
great battle, comparatively few were 
killed. One of the most distinguished 
dead was General Morland, who com- 
manded the Chasseurs-a-Cheval of the 
Guard. His regiment had suffered ter- 
rible losses in the charge under Rapp 



BATTI.es of AUSTERLITZ and JENA. 



841 



against the Russian Guard, and he 
himself had fallen, fighting amongst 
Uie foremost. 

Napoleon, who was always anxious 
to do everything to raise the spirit of 
his troops and to excite their emulation, 
ordered that the body of General Mor- 
land should be preserved and conveyed 
to Paris, there to be interred in a spec- 
ially magnificent tomb which he pro- 
posed to build on the Esplanade of the 
Invalides. The doctors with the army 
had neither the time nor the materials 
necessary to embalm the general's body, 
so, as a simple means of conservation, 
they enclosed it in a barrel of rum, 
which was taken to Paris. But cir- 
cumstances delayed the construction of 
the tomb which the Bmperor intended 
for its reception until the fall of the 
Empire in 1814. When the barrel was 
then opened for the private interment 
of the body by General Morland's rela- 
tions, they were astonished to find that 
the rum had made the dead general's 
moustaches grow so extraordinarily 
that they reached below his waist. 

The Host in Flight. 
The defeat suffered by the Russians 
was so crushing, and their army had 
been thrown into such confusion, that 
all who had escaped from the disaster 
of Austerlitz fled with all speed to 
Galicia, where there was a hope of be- 
ing beyond the reach of the conqueror. 
The rout was complete. The French 
made a large number of prisoners, and 
found the roads covered with abandoned 
guns, baggage, and material of war. 
The Emperor Alexander, overcome by 
his misfortunes, left it to his ally, 
Francis IL, to treat with Napoleon, 
and authorized him to make the best 



terms he could for both the defeated 
empires. 

On the very evening of the 2d of De- 
cember the Emperor of Austria had 
asked for an interview with Napoleon, 
and the victor met the vanquished on 
the 4th. An armistice was signed on 
the 6th, which was shortly afterwards 
followed by a treaty of peace concluded 
at Presburg. 

The total losses of the Austro-Rus- 
sians at Austerlitz were about 10,000 
killed, 30,000 prisoners, 46 standards, 
186 cannon, 400 artillery caissons, and 
all their baggage. Their armies prac- 
tically no longer existed, and only 
about 25,000 disheartened men could 
be rallied from the wreck. 

Generous to the Conquered. 

In the joy of victory Napoleon showed 
himself generous to Austria and Russia 
in the terms which he imposed, and he 
at once set free Prince Repnin, with all 
of the Russian Imperial Guard who had 
fallen into his hands. To his own army 
he was lavish of rewards and acknowl- 
edgements of its valor, and in the fam- 
ous order of the day which he published 
he first made use of the well-known 
expression — "Soldiers, I am content 
with you." Besides a large distribu- 
tion of prize-money to his troops, he 
decreed that liberal pensions should be 
ofranted to the widows of the fallen, and 
also that their orphan children should 
be cared for, brought up, and settled 
in life at the expense of the State. 

The campaign of Austerlitz is prob- 
ably the most striking and dramatic of 
all those undertaken by Napoleon, and 
its concluding struggle was the most 
complete triumph of his whole career. 
It was the first in which he engaged 



342 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



after assuming the title of Emperor and 
becoming the sole and irresponsible 
ruler of France. Unlike the vast masses 
of men which he directed in subsequent 
wais, his army was then almost entirely 
composed of Frenchmen, and its glories 
belonged to France alone. Though for 
several years to come the great Emper- 
or's fame was to remain undimmed by 
the clouds of reverse, it never shone 
with a brighter lustre than at the close 
of 1805. 

Fierce Battle of Jena. 

As the bloody battle of Austerlitz 
was one of those great pivotal strug- 
gles that decide the fate of empires, 
so was the equally sanguinary and de- 
cisive battle of Jena. Never was the 
superb courage of the far-famed Murat 
and other great leaders more gallantly 
displayed than on that historic field. 

To the Prussian people 1806 was a 
terrible year, and their subsequent re- 
prisals of 1 8 14, 18 1 5, and even of 1870, 
did not efface the memory of Jena, as 
the French elect to call the little Saxon 
town. Whatever difference of opinion 
may exist as to the good faith of Napo- 
leon and the Prussian Government re- 
spectively in their diplomatic relations, 
all are agreed that the military spirit of 
Prussia hastened on the war ; and never 
did nation undertake hostilities at a 
more unfortunate moment or in clum- 
sier fashion. 

The French army, returning slowly 
from its glorious campaign of Auster- 
litz, was close at hand, and flushed 
with victory ; and although in rags, 
with its pay held advisedly in arrears, 
it was in high moral feather, and look- 
ing forward to the fetes that were pro- 
mised it when it should arrive in France. 



The Prussian army, on the othet 
hand, while full of undoubted courage, 
was precisely in that condition one 
would expect as the result of its ruling 
system. Its regiments were farmed out 
by their colonels ; class distinction was 
rife among the officers, and the men 
were ruled by " Corporal Schlague " — /' 
in other words, flogged unmercifully 
into shape. Their drill and traditions 
went back to days of Frederick the 
Great, and the only pension granted to 
the discharged veteran was a license to 
beg publicly! 

Wretched was the condition of the 
soldier, even when serving, yet it was 
this army, with little or no -.sympathy 
between its officers and meri, strapped 
up in tight uniforms, hampered with 
absurd regulations, and in every re- 
spect half a century behind l:he times, 
that sharpened its sabres on the door- 
steps of the French ambassador at Ber- 
lin, and clamored wildly to engage the 
invincible legions of the Emperor. 

Disastrous Defeat. 

It had its wish, against the better 
judgment of its sovereign, and met 
with perhaps the most crushing defeat 
recorded in history, being sacrificed to 
the gross stupidity of its leaders, of 
whom a word must be said here in jus- 
tice to the army itself. 

The Duke of Brunswick, its actual ' 
commander-in-chief, the father of the 
unfortunate English Queen Caroline, 
was seventy years old, and credited with 
a great military reputation, though au- 
thentic proofs of it may be searched for 
in vain. He had fought under the cele- 
brated Frederick, who disliked him, 
and had been beaten by the riff'-raff in 
the wars of the Revolution. One re- 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



343 



view day at Magdeburg, when a field- 
marshal, he sprang from the saddle, al- 
lowed his charger to run loose, and 
caned a non-commissioned officer for 
some mistake in a manoeuvre ; but 
nevertheless it was into the hands of 
this egregious old dolt that the Prussian 
fortunes were entrusted. 

Held a Long Pow-wow. 

Associated with Brunswick — and in 
truth they seem to have been unable to 
do anything without previously holding 
a long pow-wow when they ought to 
have been marching — were Marshal Mol- 
lendorf, a worn-out old man of eighty- 
two ; Prince Frederick Louis of Hohen- 
lohe-Ingelfingen, an infantry general, 
whose sixty years had afforded him lit- 
tle opportunity of distinction in the 
field; Colonel Massenbach, Hohenlohe's 
quartermaster-general, whose practical 
advice was not listened to, probably 
because it was practical ; and several 
other officers, some of whom distin- 
guished themselves later on in the War 
of Liberty, but the majority men of no 
account, who squabbled at the councils, 
disobeyed orders, and had nothing but 
personal bravery to commend them. 

At the head of the younger branch of 
officers was Prince Louis Ferdinand, a 
dashing, hare-brained young fellow, 
whose passion was pretty equally divi- 
ded between the worship of Venus and 
Mars, and whose early death was much 
deplored. Between the two factions, 
ancient and modern, there was per- 
petual strife, and between these two 
stools, which the energetic French 
kicked over in an incredibly short time, 
the Prussian army came heavily to the 
ground. 

" The insolent braggarts shall soon 



learn that our weapons need no sharp- 
ening ! ' ' said Napoleon, when Marbot 
told him of the affront to his ambassa- 
dor ; and again, when he read the fool- 
ish demand that his troops should cross 
the Rhine and abandon German terri- 
tory by a given date, he exclaimed to 
Bertheir, " Prince, we will be punctu- 
ally at the rendezvous ; but instead of 
being in France on the 8th, we will be 
in Saxony." 

The October of 1806 was a splendid 
month — a slight frost during the nights, 
but the days magnificent, with white 
camuli rolling across the blue, when 
the blue was not entirely unclouded ; 
and on the 8th day of that eventful 
month the French advanced in three 
great columns into the rocky valleys 
that led from Franconia to Saxony ; an 
army — when the cavalry and artillery 
of the Guard joined it — of 186,000 men, 
led by masters in the art of war. 

Napoleon in the Ranks. 

The Emperor accompanied the centre 
column, composed of the infantry of 
the Guard, under Lefebvre, husband of 
the well-known "Madame Sans-Gene," 
Bernadotte's ist corps, Davout's 3d 
Corps, and Murat's Cavalry Reserve; 
the whole marching by Kronach on the 
road to Schleitz and Jena. The right 
column consisting of Soult's 4th and 
Ney's 6th Corps with a Bavarian divis- 
ion, set out for Hoff by forced marches, 
and the left, made up of Lannes with 
the 5th Corps and Augereau with the 
7th, turned its face towards Coburg, 
Grafenthal, and Saalfeld. 

The Prussians, to the number of 125,- 
000, which did not include garrisons 
and sundry detached forces, were also 
divided into three bodies ; General 



344 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



Rucliel with the right, 30,000, being 
on the Hessian frontier about Bisenacli ; 
the main army of 55,000, under Bruns- 
wick and the King in person, around 
Magdeburg ; and the left wing, under 
Holienlohe, 40,000 strong, being ad- 
■''■anced towards the enemy round and 
about the fortified places of Schleitz, 
Saalfeld, Saalburg, and HofF, in defi- 
ance of Brunswick's orders, which de- 
sired Hohenlohe to recross the Saale 
and take post behind the mountains 
that rise above that river. 

Dense Ignorance. 

Their motive was to cut off Napoleon 
from his base in the Maine valley ; but 
directly they heard that his march was 
directed towards their left and centre, 
they changed their plans and attempted 
a concentration about Weimar, which 
exposed their magazines, threw their 
flank invitingly open to the enemy, and 
necessitated marches by cross roads and 
byways in a country of which extraor- 
dinary fact, their staff possessed no re- 
liable map ! 

While this movement was in progress 
the French came upon them, and struck 
the first blow at the little town of Saal- 
burg, where a portion of Hohenlohe's 
men under General Tauenzien were en- 
trenched behind the river. It was the 
first day of the advance, and Murat, with 
some light cavalry and the famous 27th 
lyight Infantry, lost no time in falling to. 

Some cannon-shots, an advance of the 
27th lyCger, and Tauenzien melted away 
in the direction of Schleitz, where on 
the 9th, about noon, the centre found 
him drawn up beyond the Wisenthal 
in order of battle with his back against 
a height. While Bernadotte, who com- 
manded, was reconnoitring, Napoleon 



arrived, and ordered the attack. Ber- 
nadotte sent the 27tli Leger forward 
under General Maisons, and the regi- 
ment quickly debouched from the town 
upon the enemy; but finding himself 
in the presence of a superior force, 
Tauenzien again ordered a retreat. 

Terrific Combat. 

The 94th and 95th of the lyine under 
Drouet followed close on their heels, 
mounted the height, and hastened down 
the other slope ; while Murat, riding at 
the head of the 4th Hussars — the regi- 
ment in which Marshal Ney had made 
his debut as a private— charged the 
cavalry that turned upon him. At the 
first shock the 4tli overthrew the Prus- 
sians; but they were reinforced by sev- 
eral fresh squadrons, and Murat sent for 
the 5th Chasseurs post haste, who com- 
ing up at the gallop flung their green 
and yellow ranks into the melee. 

Tauenzien hurled his hussars and the 
red Saxon dragoons against the two 
regiments, and matters looked serious 
for Murat, although Captain Razout of 
the 94th opened from an ambuscade and 
killed fifty of them ; but Maisons arriv- 
ing with five companies of the 27th 
lyCger poured in such a terrible fire that 
200 red troopers went down in a mass 
and the rest bolted. These dragoons 
were antiquated-looking fellows, with 
cocked hats and pigtails, their officers 
riding with huge canes significantly 
dangling from wrist or saddle ; and as 
they went about to the rear of the 4th 
Hussars and the 5tli Chasseurs re-formed 
and spurred in pursuit, driving them 
into the woods among their disorgan- 
ized infantry. 

It was short and sharp, but the effect 
upon the Prussians — who left 2,00c 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



345 



muskets behind them in their flight, 
nearly 500 prisoners, and 300 killed and 
wounded — was serious. 

Murat still pushed on, and next day, 
the loth, Lasalle captured the enemy's 
baggage, and a pontoon train. Napoleon 
writing that the cavalry ' ' was saddled 
in gold ; " but on the same day a much 
more important engagement took place 
at Saalfeld between the French left, 
under Marshal Cannes, and Prince 
Ivouis, who commanded Hohenlohe's 
rear-guard. Saalfeld was a little walled 
town of about 5,000 inhabitants, and 
partly to allow time for the evacuation 
of the magazines in its rear, partly from 
a burning desire to fight. Prince Louis 
obtained Hohenlohe's permission to re- 
main there. 

A Strong Character. 

He was then thirty-four, brave as a 
lion, but insubordinate, and of very 
loose morals. In Prussia he is regarded 
as a hero, and there is something in his 
oval face as it hangs in the HohenzoU- 
ern Museum with the hair tied with a 
ribbon, that reminds one of the English 
"Prince Charlie." He had eighteen 
guns, eighteen squadrons of hussars, 
and eleven battalions of infantry ; and 
with that force he rashly engaged the 
experienced Lannes, who was advanc- 
ing with 25,000 troops, although in 
effect only the artillery, two regiments 
of cavalry, and the division of Suchet 
came into action. The division of 
Suchet found itself before the enemy at 
7 o'clock in the morning. 

Instantly ranging his guns on the 
heights that commanded the Prussians, 
Lannes opened fire, and sent part of 
Suchet' s skirmishers through the woods 
to gall Prince Louis' right. Until 



nearly i o'clock the Prussians stood 
their ground, but Suchet working round 
in their rear and Lannes pouring down 
upon them in front, they broke and fled, 
leaving fifteen guns behind them. 

Two Gallant Charges. 

Louis charged gallantly with two 
cavalry regiments flanked by the white- 
uniformed Saxon Hussars, but Clapa- 
rede's and Vedel's brigades routed them, 
and they also retreated. Rallying them 
with difficulty, he charged again at the 
head of the Saxon Hussars, whose tall 
flowerpot shakoes and bright blue 
pelisses were soon jumbled together in 
a confused mass among the willow- 
fringed marshes by the river bank, 
where the scarlet and blue 9th, and the 
light blue loth Hussars made short 
work of them. 

So far the French advance had been 
a succession of triumphs, destined to 
continue without rebuff for the rest of 
the war ; and as the Prussian spirit sank 
at the news of each defeat, that of the 
invaders rose. Reviewing the 2d Chas- 
seurs-a-Cheval at Lobenstein on the 12th 
of October, Napoleon asked Colonel 
Bousson how many men he had pre- 
sent. 

" Five hundred, sire," said the colonel; 
" but there are many raw troops among 
them." 

" What does that signify ? Are they 
not all Frenchmen?" was the angry 
reply ; and turning to the regiment, he 
cried, ' ' My lads, you must not feai 
death : when soldiers defy death they 
drive him into the enemy's ranks," 
with a motion of his arm which called 
forth a sudden convulsive movement 
among the squadrons and a wild shout 
of enthusiasm. 



846 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



The losses of the Prussians at Saal- 
feld, which are variously stated seemed 
to have been about thirty guns, a thou- 
sand prisoners, and a similar number 
of killed and wounded, together with a 
quantity of baggage ; but these were 
only the shadows of coming events, 
and the French columns moved on 
swiftly, learning by the capture of the 
post-bag that the enemy were moving 
on Weimar from Erfurt. 

Fled in Disorder. 

Hohenlohe's troops were ordered to 
place the hills and forests of Thuringia 
between them and the victorious foe, 
and, worn out by marching, were 
struggling on in the midst of wagon- 
trains, and bad roads, when fugitives 
from Saalfeld spread terror among them, 
and they fled in disorder across the 
Saale into Jena. Napoleon likewise 
concentrated his troops, and a map 
must be studied to understand their 
movements in and among towns and 
villages unknown outside the history 
of this campaign. 

A strong barrier now intervened be- 
tween the two armies, French and Prus- 
sian, the river Saale flowing, roughly, 
northward to the Elbe through hilly 
country, and only passable to an army 
at five points where there were bridges 
— viz., at Jena, Lobstadt, Dornburg, 
Gamburg, and Koser, the latter place 
opposite Naumburg. 

The Prussians having gone helter- 
skelter across that river at Jena, they 
were virtually hemmed in an angle, 
formed by the Thuringian Mountains 
to the south and the Saale to the west, 
so that as their fortresses, their remain- 
ing magazines, and their very capital 
lay open to the enemy, they had but 



two alternatives — either to make anothei 
long flank march to the line of the 
Elbe or to stay where they were and 
defend the Saale and its fringe of hills. 
The Duke of Brunswick, however, 
seems to have had a genius for keeping 
himself out of harm's way ; and leaving 
Hohenlohe to defend the heights of 
Jena, though with strict orders not to 
attack, and Ruchel to collect the out- 
lying forces at Weimar, he set off with 
his five divisions, bag and baggage, to 
pass the Saale at Naumburg and reach 
the line of the Elbe, hastened in this 
fatal decision by the news of Davout's 
advance on Naumburg — in other words, 
he ran away with 65,000 men and left 
others to do the fighting. 

Grim Surprises. 

On the 13th of October the army 
started — ominous date for the supersti- 
tiously inclined ; and on the same day 
Napoleon, expecting to find the entire 
enemy before him, set out from Gera 
for Jena, having despatched Montes- 
quieu, one of his ofiicers of ordinance, 
to the King of Prussia with proposals 
of peace — in reality to gain time for his 
troops to come up. It was, to a great 
extent, a game of cross-purposes ; for 
Brunswick, anticipating a free passage 
at Naumburg, found Davout and death; 
Napoleon, expecting the whole Prus- 
sian army beyond Jena, found only its 
rear-guard; and Hohenlohe, looking for 
Lannes and Augereau, received the full 
weight of the Emperor himself with 
the bulk of his forces. 

Lannes preceded the Emperor, ana 
had a sharp skirmish with Tauenzien. 
beyond the little university town of 
Jena, and when Napoleon arrived some 
of the quaint gabled houses were burn- 



batti,e;s of austerlitz and jena. 



347 



ing — ignited, it is said, by the Prussian 
batteries. Jena nestles under the lea 
of a range of hills, the most important 
being the Ivandgrafenberg ; and the 
high road to Weimar runs through a 
difficult valley named the Muhlthal 
from the paper-mill which stood there. 

A Saxon Parson. 

Having no mind to force that defile, 
which determined men might have 
rendered a veritable Thermopylae, the 
Emperor made a reconnaissance with 
Lannes under fire to find some means 
of carrying the army over the hills on 
to the plateau beyond, where he should 
find the Prussians and a natural battle- 
ground. Lannes's tirailleurs had cap- 
tured a pass, but it was useless for ar- 
tillery ; and it was a Saxon parson, 
exasperated at the sight of the burning 
towxi, who pointed out a path on the 
Landgrafenberg itself, by which, with 
the help of the sappers, the French 
could get up their guns. For this ac- 
tion the worthy man endured such after 
persecution that he was obliged to leave 
the country and reside in Paris. 

How they cut away the rock and 
hauled each cannon to the summit with 
teams of twelve horses apiece, how the 
battery that was to open fire next morn- 
ing stuck fast in the dark and was as- 
sisted by Napoleon with a lantern in 
his hand, is well known. During the 
long, cold night the Prussian bivouac 
fires lit up the horizon beyond the hill- 
tops, but those of the French army 
made only a faint gleam high up on the 
crest of the mountain, and the enemy 
saw nothing to warn them that 40.000 
men were tightly packed there, the 
crossbelts of one almost touching the 
cowskin pack of his front rank. 



Suchet's division lay waiting for 
dawn with its right on the Rauhthal 
ravine ; Gazan lurked on the left before 
the village of Cospoda, 4,000 of the 
Guard formed a huge square, in the 
centEiC of which the Emperor snatched 
a short repose, and the engineers were 
busy widening the Steiger path for the 
passage of the guns. 

The Capitaine Cogniet, then a private 
in the Grenadiers of the Guard, has 
told us how twenty men per company 
were allowed to descend into the nar- 
row streets of the deserted town below 
them to search for food ; how they 
found it in plenty, together with good 
wine in the cellars of the hotels, each 
grenadier bringing back three bottles, 
two in his fur cap, and one in his pocket, 
with which they drank to the health of 
the King of Prussia ; how they imbibed 
hot wine all night, carrying it to the 
artillery, who were half-dead with fa- 
tigue ; and — ingenuous Cogniet ! — con- 
fessing that the Guard up on the moun- 
tain side were all more or less elevated 
in a double sense. 

Shrouded in Fog. 

At last the morning came, but with 
it a fog so thick that the enemy were 
invisible. Napoleon had been astir at 
four o'clock, and having sent his final 
orders to his marshals, issued from the 
curtajns of his blue and white striped 
tent, and passed before Lannes' s corps 
by torchlight. 

"Soldiers," said he, "the Prussian 
army is turned as the Austrian was a 
year ago at Ulm. Fear not its renowned 
cavalry; oppose to their charges firm 
squares and the bayonet." 

The cheers of the soldiers still carried 
no warning to the Prussian lines. Their 



348 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



hussars had intercepted Montesquieu 
during the night, and arguing from his 
message of peace that there would be 
no fighting on the 14th, the army had 
made no provision even for the day's 
rations, and lay in the fog in fancied 
security. 

Then, about six, when the mist light- 
ened, came a rude awakening. The 
17th Leger, and a chosen battalion, 
under Claparede, crept forward in sin- 
gle line, flanked by the 34th and 40th 
in close column, commanded by Reille, 
with the 64th and 88th, under Vedel, 
in their rear — in short, Suchet's division 
making silently for Closwitz, while 
Gazan felt his way towards Cospoda on 
Suchet's left 

Fire from Ambush. 

With Gazan were the 21st Leger, and 
the 28th, looth, and 103d of the Line, 
and the two divisions enveloped in the 
fog drew nearer and nearer to the un- 
suspecting foe until, after they had 
groped their way for nearly an hour, 
Claparede suddenly received the fire of 
Zweifel's Prussian battalion and the 
Saxon ones of Frederick Augustus and 
Rechten, seeing only the flash of mus- 
ketry from the wood that surrounded 
Closwitz. The 17th returned the fire 
warmly, firing into the vapor before 
them, but when they saw the trees 
looming up in front, Claparede charged 
and bayoneted them out of the wood 
and village. 

Gazan was also successful in his attack 
on Cospoda, and, advancing farther, 
took the hamlet of Lutzenrode from the 
enemy's fusileiers ; but a withering fire 
was soon opened on both divisions by 
Cerrini's Saxons, which they sustained 
for some time until the 34th, which had 



relieved the 17th, went at them with 
the bayonet and put them to flight, a 
disorder which carried the rest of Tau- 
enzien's corps away, leaving twenty 
cannon and a host of fugitives in the 
hands of Lannes, who followed at a 
swinging pace down hill after the 
cowards. 

In less than two hours they had 
cleared their front for the army on the 
heights to deploy. A lull came about 
nine o'clock, and before the action was 
resumed Ney had arrived at speed ; 
Soult with one division took post behind 
Closwitz ; and Augereau, who was then 
lamenting the loss of his amiable wife, 
after pushing Heudelet, his guns, and 
cavalry along the Muhlthal towards 
Weimar, left the Gibbet Hill with Des- 
jardin and placed himself on Gazan's 
left among the fine fir woods that clothed 
the plateau. 

Preparing for Action. 

The mist was rising and promised to 
break, but it was yet some time before 
the sun shone brightly. Prince Hohen- 
lohe, whom disaster seemed to pursue, 
galloped to his troops, who were en- 
camped on the Weimar road awaiting the 
French left wing as they thought, where 
Tauenzien's fugitives soon alarmed him, 
and called forth his better qualities to 
prepare for a general action. 

Hurrying the Prussian infantry under 
Grawert to occupy Tauenzien's lost posi- 
tions, he posted two Saxon brigades 
under Burgsdorf and Nehroflf, Bogus- 
lauski's Prussian battalion, and a strong 
force of artillery to hold the Weimar 
road to the death, with Cerrini, who 
had rallied and been reinforced by four 
Saxon battalions, in support. 

Dyherrn, with five battalions, acted 



BATTI.es of AUSTERUTZ and JENA. 



349 



as reserve to Grawert. Tauenzien was 
rallied a long way to the rear, and Hol- 
zeudorf, who formed Hohenlohe's left, 
was ordered to attack the French right, 
while he himself should fall on their 
centre with cavalry and guns, pending 
the arrival of Ruchel from Weimar. 

Ready for Onslaught. 

The heights above Jena, the ravines, 
and the dense woods were capable of 
the most stubborn defence, and the 
French would have had to fight climb- 
ing ; but the passage of the Landgrafen- 
berg had altered everything, and as the 
sun shone out about ten o'clock Hohen- 
lohe saw an astonishing spectacle. The 
enemy stretched in dark masses along 
the hig;h ground on his own side of the 
mountain, outnumbering him in the 
proportion of two to one, outflanking 
him to left and right, and prepared to 
foam down the slope and sweep him ofi" 
the face of the earth. 

Nor did the foe allow him much time 
to digest the surprise ; for the impetu- 
ous Ney, who had hurried forward with 
3,000 men and deployed in the mist 
between Lannes and Augereau, flung 
himself upon the village of Vierzehn- 
Heiligen in the very centre of the bat- 
tlefield, and anticipated the Emperor's 
orders for a renewal of the fight. 

Soult with St. Hilaire's division ad- 
vanced from Lobstadt and constituted 
the French right ; Lannes, with Suchet 
and Gazan, formed the centre, and Au- 
gereau having scrambled out of the 
Muhlthal, menaced Iserstadt on the 
left ; the Guard and the artillery being 
in rear, and Murat's cavalry marching 
to join the army. Indignant at the 
firing in his front, Napoleon sent to 
learn from which corps it proceeded, 



and was greatly astonished to find that 
Ney, whom he supposed to be still in 
the rear, was engaging on his own ac- 
count. 

Ney's troops were the 25 th Leger 
under Colonel Morel, two battalions 
formed of the picked men of several 
regiments, and Colbert's light cavalry 
brigade, formed of the 3d Hussars and 
loth Chasseurs-a-Cheval; and with these 
the marshal attacked Hohenlohe with 
his usual bravery, leading them, as his 
aide-de-camp tells us, "like a coporal 
of the line." Hohenlohe's horse-artil- 
lery was in position, and the loth Chas- 
seurs, forming under cover of a little 
wood, darted out upon it, and took 
seven guns in one swoop under a fear- 
ful fire ; but while they were sabring 
away, the Prussian cuirassiers of Hol- 
zendorf and Prittzwitz's dragoons came 
down with a thunderous rush, and the 
loth went about. 

A Hard Struggle. 

The 3d Hussars, forming behind the 
same trees, spurred on the Prussian 
flank and checked the cuirassiers for a 
moment, but had to retreat in their 
turn; and Ney, throwing his infantry 
into two squares, found himself in a 
bad case at the moment when Napo- 
leon reached a height overlooking the 
conflict. Sending Bertrand to Ney's 
assistance with two light cavalry regi- 
ments, he ordered up Lannes; and the 
gallant Ney made a heroic struggle to 
hold his own, pushing his grenadiers to 
the clump of trees that had sheltered 
his horsemen, and flinging his riflemen 
at Vierzehn-Heiligen itself. 

Up came Lannes at the head of the 
2 1st Leger, and as Grawert deployed 
before the village in magnificent order. 



350 



BATTLES OF AUSTBRLITZ AND JENA. 



opening a terrible fire, Lannes led five 
of Claparede's and Gazan's regiments 
to outflank him. In every part of the 
field the crash of musketry and the 
boom of heavy cannon resounded. Na- 
poleon still believed he had the entire 
Prussian army before him, and the stub- 
born resistance justified that opinion. 

Scene of Carnage. 

The Prussian regiments of Zathow 
and Lanitz covered themselves with 
glory before Vierzehn-Heiligen. The 
cuirassiers were trae to their traditions 
of Seidlitz and the Seven Years' War ; 
but inch by inch the French gained 
ground, although it was an hour after 
midday before they obtained a perma- 
nent advantage. Hares fled terrified 
about the stubble fields, the soldiers 
cheering them as they fought. The 
October woods were strewn with dead 
men among the fallen leaves, and the 
hollow ways were full of smoke. 

Thanks to the Prussian horse, Ho- 
henlohe took some guns, and his hopes 
were so far raised that he wrote to Ru- 
chel, " At this moment we beat the 
enemy at all points. ' ' He soon learned, 
however, that Soult had almost anni- 
hilated his left wing, and Augereau 
and Lannes under his own eyes drove 
back his right more than half a mile. 

The brave man appeared everywhere 
at once ; now heading his cuirassiers, 
now encouraging the infantry, again 
peering through the clouds that hung 
before the batteries ; but it was all to no 
purpose. Grawert was badly wounded, 
Dyherrn's five battalions fled before 
Augereau, and with a tremendous roll- 
ing of drums the whole French army 
advanced down the slope, the Guard 
included, about two in the afternoon. 



Hohenlohe's next letter to Ruchel 
was significant. " Lose not a moment 
in advancing with your as yet unbroken 
troops. Arrange your columns so that 
through your openings there may pass 
the broken bands of the battle." In 
vain Ruchel arrived at last with 20,000 
men ; Soult fell upon him and they 
made poor stand, the growing rout al- 
ready communicating itself to the new- 
comers. 

The French musicians played under 
the heavy fire ; Ruchel was seriously 
hurt; Hohenlohe's own regiment and 
the grenadiers of Hahn gave way; and, 
most terrible of all, Murat and his 
cavalry came on the scene and over- 
whelmed everything in a whirlwind of 
slaughter. 

Thousands of Bloody Swords. 

No battle can show a carnage more 
merciless and horrible than that surge 
of heavy horsemen among the flying 
Prussians after Jena. They spared noth- 
ing in their path, and every one of 
those fifteen tliousand long swords was 
red with blood from point to hilt. 

Ruchel' s men had the double mis- 
fortune to meet both the victorious 
French and their flying countrymen in 
a disorganized mass rolling down hill, 
and though here and there individual 
battalions fought bravely to the last, 
panic seized the whole army and it tore 
madly to the rear. 

Brown- an d-gold hussars of Anhalt 
Pless ; light infantry in green jackets 
piped with red; white Saxon hussars 
and grim dragoons with the bristle 
taken out of their moustaches, all 
mingled in a shocking, terror-stricken 
mob, covering the roads and fields for 
miles ; Murat's cuirassiers and dragoons 



BATTLES OF AUSTERLITZ AND JENA. 



351 



slashing and slaying until compelled to 
halt from very weariness. 

Many colors were taken in that pur- 
suit, and two curious incidents are 
worthy of record: Quartermaster Hum- 
bert of the 2d Dragoons captured a 
standard, but was killed by three mus- 
ket-balls, seeing which the dragoon 
Fauveau leaped to the ground, rescued 
the prize, and carrying it to his colonel 
under a hail of shot, said modestly, "It 
was the Quartermaster Humbert who 
took this flag," for which he received 
the Cross the same day. 

The other instance was that of Colo- 
nel DouUembourg of the ist Dra- 
goons, who was unhorsed and momen- 
tarily captured, in the confusion his 
name appearing in the bulletiu as 
killed. 

" It is not worth the trouble of altera- 
tion," said Berthierwhen he protested; 



and, oddly enough, the mistake was 
still further perpetuated after the Po- 
lish campaign ; for certain squares and 
streets of Paris being named after the 
officers who fell at Jena, a Rue Doul- 
lembourg came into existence, and 
again the colonel protested. 

" What ! " said Berthier, " would you 
have me give back to the Emperor an 
order so honorable to you ? No; live 
in the Rue DouUembourg and establish 
your family there." 

Napoleon returned to Jena for the 
night, where he received the professors 
of the university, and rewarded the 
Saxon clergyman to whom he owed so 
much ; and there he composed the Fifth 
Bulletin, one of the most mendacious 
of his productions. It is also recorded 
that he crossed the battle-field and ad- 
ministered brandy with his own hands 
to many of the wounded. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Brilliant Victories of Commodore Perry and General Jackson, 



fHK famous battle fought by Com- 
modore Perry on Lake Erie, 
resulting in a victory for the 
American Navy, ranks as one of the 
great naval achievements of the Nine- 
teenth Century. It had a decisive effect 
upon the struggle with Great Britain, 
then going on, and hastened the close 
of the second war with the mother 
country. 

Perry's celebrated battle was fought 
September loth, 1813, and raised to a 
high pitch the spirits of the Americans, 
who were disheartened by repeated dis- 
asters. The British had six ships, with 
sixty-three guns. The Americans had 
nine ships, with fifty-four guns, and the 
American ships were much smaller 
than the English. At this time Perry, 
the American commander, was but 
twenty-six years of age. His flagship 
was the Lawrence. The ship's watch- 
word was the last charge of the Chesa- 
peake's dying commander — "Don't 
give up the ship." The battle was 
witnessed by thousands of people on 
shore. 

At first the advantage seemed to be 
with the English. Perry's flagship was 
riddled by English shot, her guns were 
dismounted and the battle seemed lost. 
At the supreme crisis Perry embarked 
in a small boat with some of his officers, 
and under the fire of many cannon 
passed to the Niagara, another ship of 
the fleet, of which he took command. 

After he had left the Lawrence she 
hauled down her flag and surrendered, 
352 



but the other American ships carried on 
the battle with such fierce impetuosity 
that the English battle-ship in turn sur- 
rendered, the Lawrence was retaken and 
all the English ships yielded with the 
exception of one, which took flight. 
The Americans pursued her, took her 
and came back with the entire British 
squadron. In the Capitol at Washing- 
ton is a historical picture, a copy of 
which is here inserted, showing Perry's 
famous exploit in passing from one 
ship to another under the fire of the 
enemy. 

The reader will be especially inter- 
ested in obtaining a detailed account of 
Perry's brilliant tactics in this famous 
sea-fight. 

Perry's squadron was lying at Put- 
in-Bay on the morning of the loth of 
September, when, at daylight, the ene- 
my's ships were discovered at the 
northwest from the masthead of the 
Lawrence. A signal was immediately 
made for all the vessels to get under 
way. The wind was light at the south 
west, and there was no mode of obtain- 
ing the weather-gauge of the enemy, a 
very important measure with the pecu- 
liar armament of the largest of the 
American vessels, but by beating round 
some small islands that lay in the way. 

It being thought there was not suffi- 
cient time for this, though the boats 
were got ahead to tow, a signal was 
about to be made for the vessels to ware, 
and to pass to leeward of the islands, 
with an intention of giving the enemy 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE TERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



358 



this great advantage, when the wind 
shifted to southeast. By this change 
the American squadron was enabled to 
pass in the desired direction, and to 
gain the wind. 

When he perceived the American 
vessels clearing the land, or about lo 
A. M., the enemy hove to, in a line, 
with his ships' heads to the southward 
and westward. At this time the two 
squadrons were about three leagues 
asunder, the breeze being still at south- 
east, and sufficient to work with. 

Change of Plans. 

After standing down until about a 
league from the English, where a better 
view was got of the manner in which 
the enemy had formed his line, the 
leading vessels of his own squadron be- 
ing within hail. Captain Perry com- 
municated a new order of attack. It 
had been expected that the Queen Char- 
lotte, the second of the English vessels, 
in regard to force, would be at the head 
of their line, and the Niagara had been 
destined to lead in, and to lie against 
her. Captain Perry having reserved for 
himself a commander's privilege of en- 
gaging the principal vessel of the oppos- 
ing squadron ; but, it now appearing 
that the anticipated arrangement had 
not been made, the plan was promptly 
altered. 

Captain Barclay had formed his line 
with the Chippeway, Mr. Campbell, 
armed with one gun on a pivot, in the 
van ; the Detroit, his own vessel, next ; 
and the Hunter, Lieutenant Bignal ; 
Queen Charlotte, Captain Finnis ; Lady 
Prevost, Lieutenant Commandant Bu- 
chan ; and the Little Belt astern, in the 
order named. To oppose this line, the 
Ariel, of four long twelves, was stationed 



in the van, and the Scorpion, of one 
long and one short gun on circles, next 
her. The Lawrence, Captain Perry, 
came next ; the two schooners just men- 
tioned keeping on her weather bow, 
Laving no quarters. The Caledonia, 
Lieutenant Turner, was the next astern, 
and the Niagara, Captain Elliot, was 
placed next to the Caledonia. 

These vessels were all up at the time, 
but the other light craft were more or 
less distant, each endeavoring to get 
into her berth. The order of battle 
for the remaining vessels directed the 
Tigress to fall in astern of the Niagara, 
the Somers next, and then the Porcu- 
pine and Trippe in the order named. 

Array of English Ships. 

By this time the wind had got to be 
very light, but the leading vessels were 
all in their stations, and the remainder 
were all endeavoring to get in as fast as 
possible. The English vessels presented 
a very gallant array, and their appear- 
ance was beautiful and imposing. Their 
line was compact, with the heads of the 
vessels still to the southward and west- 
ward ; their ensigns were just opening 
to the air ; their vessels were freshly 
painted, and their canvas was new and 
perfect. The American line was more 
straggling. The order of battle re- 
quired them to form within half a 
cable's length of each other, but the 
schooners astern could not close with 
the vessels ahead, which sailed faster, 
and had more light canvas until some 
considerable time had elapsed. 

A few minutes before twelve, the De- 
troit threw a twenty-four-pound shot 
at the Lawrence, then on her weather 
quarter, distance between one and two 
miles. Captain Perry now passed an 



354 VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



order by trumpet, through the vessels 
astern, for the Hue to close to the pre- 
scribed order ; and soon after the Scor- 
pion was hailed and directed to begin 
with her long gun. 

At this moment the American vessels 
in line were edging down upon the 
English, those in front being neces- 
sarily nearer to the enemy than those 
more astern, with the exception of the 
Ariel and Scorpion, which two schooners 
had been ordered to keep well to the 
windward of the Lawrence. 

Brisk Firing. 

Ait the Detroit had an armament of 
long guns, Captain Barclay manifested 
his judgment in commencing the action 
in this manner ; and in a short time the 
firing between that ship, the Lawrence, 
and the two schooners at the head of 
the American line got to be very ani- 
mated. The Lawrence now showed a 
signal for the squadron to close with 
each vessel in her station, as previously 
designated. A few minutes later the 
vessels astern began to fire, and the 
action became general, but distant. 
The Lawrence, however, appeared to be 
the principal aim of the enemy, and 
before the firing had lasted any material 
time the Detroit, Hunter and Queen 
Charlotte were directing most of their 
efforts against her. 

The American brig endeavored to 
close, and did succeed in getting with- 
in reach of canister, though not without 
suffering materially, as she fanned down 
upon the enemy. At this time the 
support of the two schooners ahead, 
which were well commanded and fought, 
was of the greatest moment to her; for 
the vessels astern, though in the line, 
could be of little use in diverting the 



fire, on account of their positions and 
the distance. 

After the firing had lasted some time, 
the Niasfara hailed the Caledonia, and 
directed the latter to make room for the 
former to pass ahead. Mr. Turner put 
his helm up in the most dashing man- 
ner, and continued to near the enemy, 
until he was closer to his line, perhaps, 
than the commanding vessel; keeping 
up as warm a fire as his small arma- 
ment would allow. The Niagara now 
became the vessel next astern of the 
Lawrence. 

The cannonade had the usual effect 
of deadening the wind, and for two 
hours there was very little air. During 
all this time, the weight of the enemy's 
fire was directed against the Lawrence ; 
the Queen Charlotte having filled, 
passed the Hunter and closed with the 
Detroit, where she kept up a destruc- 
tive cannonading on this devoted ves- 
sel. These united attacks dismantled 
the American brig, besides producing 
great slaughter on board her. 

Movements of Battleships. 

At the end of two hours and a half, 
agreeable to the report of Captain Perry, 
the enemy having filled, and the wind 
increasing, the two squadrons drew 
slowly ahead, the Lawrence necessarily 
falling astern and partially out of the 
combat. At this moment the Niagara 
passed to the southward and westward, 
a short distance to windward of the 
Lawrence, steering for the head of the 
enemy's line, and the Caledonia fol- 
lowed to leeward. 

The vessels astern had not been idle, 
but, by dint of sweeping and sailing, 
they had all got within reach of their 
guns, and had been gradually closing, 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAI, JACKSON. 355 



though not in the prescribed order. 
The rear of the line would seem to have 
inclined down towards the enemy, 
bringing the Trippe, Lieutenant Hold- 
up, so near the Caledonia, that the lat- 
ter sent a boat to her for a supply of 
cartridges. 

Captain Perry, finding himself in a 
vessel that had been rendered nearly 
useless by the injuries she had received, 
and which was dropping out of the 
combat, got into his boat, and pulled 
after the Niagara, on board of which 
vessel he arrived at about half-past two. 
Soon after the colors of the Lawrence 
were hauled down, that vessel being 
literally a wreck. 

Getting into Closer Action. 

After a short consultation between 
Captains Perry and Elliott, the latter 
volunteered to take the boat of the for- 
mer, and to proceed and bring the small 
vessels astern, which were already 
briskly engaged, into still closer action. 
This proposal being accepted, Captain 
Elliott pulled down the line, passing 
within hail of all the small vessels 
astern, directing them to close within 
half-pistol shot of the enemy, and to 
throw in grape and canister, as soon as 
they could get the desired positions. 
He then repaired on board the Somers 
and took charge of that schooner in 
person. 

When the enemy saw the colors of 
the Lawrence come down, he confi- 
dently believed that he had gained the 
day. His men appeared over the bul- 
warks of the different vessels and gave 
three cheers. For a few minutes, in- 
deed, there appears to have been, as if 
by common consent, nearly a general 
cessation in the firing, during which 



both parties were preparing for a des- 
perate and final effort. The wind had 
freshened and the position of the Niag- 
ara, which brig was now abeam of the 
leading English vessel, was command- 
ing; while the gun-vessels astern, in 
consequence of the increasing breeze, 
were enabled to close very fast. 

Rousing Cheers. 

At forty-five minutes past two, or 
when time had been given to the gun- 
vessels to receive the order mentioned, 
Captain Perry showed the signal from 
the Niagara, for close action, and im- 
mediately bore up, under his foresail, 
topsails, and topgallantsail . As the 
American vessels hoisted their answer- 
ing flags, this order was received with 
three cheers, and it was obeyed with 
alacrity and spirit. 

The enemy had attempted to ware 
round, to get fresh broadsides to bear, 
in doing which his line got into confu- 
sion, and the two ships for a short time 
were foul of each other, while the Lady 
Prevost had so far shifted her berth, as 
to be both to the westward and to the 
leeward of the Detroit. At this critical 
moment, the Niagara came steadily 
down, within half pistol-shot of the 
enemy, standing between the Chippe- 
way and Lady Prevost, on one side, and 
the Detroit, Queen Charlotte and Hun- 
ter on the other. In passing she poured 
in her broadsides, starboard and lar- 
board, ranging ahead of the ships, 
luffed athwart their bows, and continued 
delivering a close and deadly fire. 

The shrieks from the Detroit, pro- 
claimed that the tide of battle had 
turned. At the same moment, the gun- 
vessels and Caledonia were throwing in 
close discharges of grape and canister 




PERRY PASSING IN AN OPEN BOAT THROUGH THE THICK OF THE FIGHT. 

356 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON, 



35? 



astern. A conflict so fearfully close, 
and so deadly, was necessarily short. 
In fifteen or twenty minutes after the 
Niagara bore up, a hail was passed 
among the small vessels, to say that the 
enemy had struck, and an officer of the 
Queen Charlotte appeared on the taflf- 
rail of that ship, waving a white hand- 
kerchief, tied to a boarding-pike. 

Trying to Escape. 

As soon as the smoke cleared away 
the two squadrons were found partly 
intermingled. The Niagara lay w 
leeward of the Detroit, Queen Charlotte 
and Hunter ; and the Caledonia, with 
one or two of the gun-vessels, was 
between the latter and the Lady Pre- 
vost. On board the Niagara the signal 
for close action was still abroad, while 
the small vessels were sternly wearing 
their answering flags. The Little Belt 
and Chippeway were endeavoring to es- 
cape to leeward, but they were shortly 
after brought-to by the Scorpion and 
Trippe ; while the Lawrence was lying 
astern and to windward, with the Ameri- 
can colors again flying. The battle had 
commenced about noon, and it termin- 
ated at three, with the exception of a 
few shots fired at the two vessels that 
attempted to escape, which were not 
overtaken until an hour later. 

In this decisive action, so far as their 
people were concerned, the two squad- 
rons suffered in nearly an equal degree, 
the manner in which the Lawrence was 
cut up being almost without an example 
in naval warfare. It is understood that 
when Captain Perry left her she had 
but one gun on her starboard side, or 
that on which she was engaged, which 
could be used ; and that gallant officer 
is said to have aided in firing it 



in person the last time it was dis- 
charged. 

Of her crew, 22 were killed and 61 
were wounded, most of the latter se- 
verely. When Captain Perry left her, 
taking with him his own brother and 
six of his people, there remained on 
board but 14 sound men. The Niagara 
had 2 killed and 25 wounded ; or about 
one-fourth of all at quarters. This was 
the official report ; but, according to 
the statement of the surgeon, her loss 
ivas 5 killed and 27 wounded. 

Total Loss. 

The other vessels suffered relatively 
less. The total loss of the squadron 
was 27 killed and 96 wounded, or alto- 
gether, 123 men; of whom 12 were 
quarter-deck officers. More than a 
hundred men were unfit for duty, 
among the different vessels, previous to 
the action, cholera morbus and dysen- 
tery prevailing in the squadron. Cap- 
tain Perry himself was laboring under 
debility, from a recent attack of the 
lake fever, and could hardly be said to 
be in proper condition for service when 
he met the enemy ; a circumstance that 
greatly enhances the estimate of his 
personal exertions on this memorable 
occasion. 

For two hours the weight of the 
enemy's fire had been thrown into the 
Lawrence, and the water being per' 
fectly smooth his long guns had com- 
mitted great havoc, before the carron- 
ades of the American vessels could be 
made available. For much of this 
period it is believed that the efforts of 
the enemy were little diverted, except 
by the fire of the two leading schooners, 
a gun of one of which (the Ariel) had 
early bursted, the two long guns of the 



358 VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAIv [ACKSON. 



large brigs, and the two long guns of 
the Caledonia. 

Although the enemy undoubtedly 
suffered by this fire, it was not directed 
at a single object, as was the case with 
that of the English, who appeared to 
think that by destroying the American 
commanding vessel they wo aid con- 
quer. It is true that carronades were 
used on both sides, at an earlier stage of 
the action than that mentioned, but 
there is good reason for thinking that 
they did but little execution for the 
first hour. When they did tell, the 
I^awrence — the vessel nearest to the 
enemy, if the Caledonia be excepted— 
necessarily became their object, and, by 
this time, the efficiency of her own bat- 
tery was much lessened. 

Shot Passed Through. 

As a consequence of these peculiar 
circumstances, her starboard bulwarks 
were nearly beaten in, and even her 
larboard were greatly injured, many of 
the enemy's heavy shot passing through 
both sides, while every gun was finally 
disabled in the batteries fought. Al- 
though much had been justly said of 
the manner in which the Bon Homme 
Richard and the Essex were injured, 
neither of those suffered, relatively, in 
a degree proportioned to the Lawrence. 

Distinguished as were the two former 
vessels for the indomitable resolution 
with which they withstood the destruc- 
tive fire directed against them, it did 
not surpass that manifested on board 
the latter ; and it ought to be mentioned 
that throughout the whole of this try- 
ing day her people, who had been so 
short a time acting together, manifested 
a steadiness and a discipline worthy of 
veterans. 



Although the Niagara suffered in a 
much less degrees, 27 men killed and 
wounded, in a ship's company that 
mustered little more than 100 souls at 
quarters, under ordinary circumstances 
would be thought a large proportior. 
Neither the Niagara nor any of the 
smaller vessels were injured in an un- 
usual manner in their hulls, spars and 
sails, the enemy having expended so 
much of his efforts against the Law- 
rence, and being so soon silenced when 
that brig and the gun-vessels got their 
ranking positions at the close of the 
conflict. 

Heavy Casualties. 

The injuries sustained by the English 
were more divided, but were necessarily 
great. According to the official report 
of Captain Barclay, his vessels lost 41 
killed and 94 wounded, making a total 
of 135, including twelve officers, the 
precise number lost by the Americans. 
No report has been published in which 
the loss of the respective vessels was 
given ; but the Detroit had her first 
lieutenant killed, and her commander, 
Captain Barclay, with her purser, 
wounded. Captain Finnis, of the Queen 
Charlotte, was also slain, and her first 
lieutenant was wounded. 

The commanding officer and first 
lieutenant of the Lady Prevost were 
among the wounded, as were the com- 
manding officers of the Hunter and 
Chippeway. All the vessels were a 
good deal injured in their sails and 
hulls; the Queen Charlotte suffering 
most in proportion. Both the Detroit 
and Queen Charlotte rolled the masts 
out of them, at anchor at Put-in-Bay, 
in a gale of wind, two days after the 
action. 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



359 



It is not easy to make a just compari- 
son between the forces of the hostile 
squadrons on this occasion. In certain 
situations the Americans would have 
been materially superior, while in others 
the enemy might possess the advantage 
in perhaps an equal degree. In the cir- 
cumstances under which the action was 
actually fought, the peculiar advant- 
ages and disadvantages were nearly 
equalized, the lightness of the wind 
preventing either of the two largest of 
the American vessels from profiting by 
its peculiar mode of efficiency, until 
quite near the close of the engagement, 
and particularly favoring the armament 
of the Detroit ; while the smoothness 
of the water rendered the light vessels 
of the Americans very destructive as 
soon as they could be got within a 
proper range. 

Long Guns in Action. 

The Detroit has been represented on 
good authority, to have been both a 
heavier and stronger ship than either 
of the American brigs, and the Queen 
Charlotte proved to be a much finer 
vessel than had been expected; while 
the Lady Prevost was found to be a 
large, warlike schooner. It was, per- 
haps, unfortunate for the enemy, that 
the armaments of the two last were not 
available under the circumstances which 
rendered the Detroit so efficient, as it 
destroyed the unity of his efforts. 

In short, the battle for near half of 
its duration appears to have been fought, 
so far as efficiency was concerned, by 
the long guns of the two squadrons. 
This was particularly favorable to the 
Detroit and to the American gun-ves- 
sels ; while the latter fought under the 
pidvantages of smooth water and the 



disadvantages of having no quarters. 
The sides of the Detroit, which were 
unusually stout, were filled with shot 
that did not penetrate. 

Brave Officers. 

Captain Perry, in his report of the 
action, eulogized the conduct of his 
second in command, Captain Elliott ; 
that of Mr. Turner, who commanded 
the Caledonia ; and that of the officers 
of his own vessel. He also commended 
the officers of the Niagara, Mr. Packett 
of the Ariel, and Mr. ChampHn of the 
Scorpion. It is now believed that the 
omission of the names of the com- 
manders of the gun-vessels astern, was 
accidental. It would seem that these 
vessels, in general, were conducted with 
great gallantry. 

Towards the close of the action, 
indeed, the Caledonia, and some of the 
gun-vessels, would appear to have been 
handled with a boldness, considering 
their total want of quarters, bordering 
on temerity. They are known to have 
been within hail of the enemy, at the 
moment he struck, and to have been 
hailed by him. The grape and canister 
thrown by the Niagara and the schoon- 
ers, during the last ten minutes of the 
battle, and which missed the enemy, 
rattled through the spars of the friendly 
vessels, as they lay opposite to each 
other, raking the English ahead and 
astern. 

Captain Perry was criticised at the 
time for the manner in which he had 
brought his squadron into action, it 
beingr thouo^ht he should have waited 
until his line was more compactly 
formed, and his small vessels could 
have closed. It has been said that "an 
officer seldom went into. action worse, 



360 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



or got out of it better.*' Truth is too 
often made the sacrifice of antithesis. 
The mode of attack appears to have 
been deemed by the enemy judicious, 
an opinion that speaks in its favor. 
The lightness of the wind, in edging 
down, was the only circumstance that 
was particularly adverse to the Ameri- 
can vessels, but its total failure could 
not have been readily foreseen. 

Clever Tactics. 

The shortness of the distances on the 
lake rendered escape so easy, when an 
officer was disposed to avoid a battle, 
that no commander, who desired an 
action, would have been pardonable 
for permitting a delay on such a plea. 
The line of battle was highly judicious, 
the manner in which the Lawrence was 
supported by the Ariel and Scorpion 
being simple and ingenious. 

By steering for the head of the ene- 
my's line the latter was prevented from 
gaining the wind by tacking, and when 
Captain Elliott imitated this manoeuvre 
in the Niagara, the American squadron 
had a very commanding position, of 
which Captain Perry promptly availed 
himself In a word, the American 
commander appears to have laid his 
plan with skill and judgment, and in 
all in which it was frustrated it would 
seem to have been the effect of accident. 
His end was fully obtained and resulted 
in a triumph. 

The British vessels appear to have 
been gallantly fought, and were sur- 
rendered only when the battle was 
hopelessly lost. The fall of their differ- 
ent commanders was materially against 
them, though it is not probable the day 
could have been recovered after the 
Niagara gained the head of their line 



and the gun vessels had closed. If tht 
enemy made an error it was in not 
tacking when he attempted to ware, 
but it is quite probable that the condi- 
tion of his vessels did not admit of the 
former manoeuvre. 

There was an instant when the enemy 
believed himself the conqueror, and a 
few minutes even, when the Americans 
doubted ; but the latter never despaired ; 
a moment sufficed to change their feel- 
ings, teaching the successful the fickle- 
ness of fortune, and admonishing the 
depressed of the virtue of perseverance. 

For his conduct in this battle, Cap- 
tain Perry received a gold medal from 
Congress. Captain Elliott also re- 
ceived a gold medal. Rewards were 
bestowed on the officers and men gen- 
erally, and the nation has long consid- 
ered thi' action one of its proudest 
achievements on the water. 

Griory for Our Navy. 

It is not too much to say that this 
renowned victory on Lake Erie has 
done more than any other one event to 
give that high prestige to the American 
Navy which has been accorded to it for 
so long a time. Every great sea battle 
must be fought, not merely with guns 
and powder, but with brains. There 
must be planning, strategy, manoeu- 
vring, sometimes swift and complicated, 
and all this is the work of the head. 
Next comes the bravery, the fiery dash, 
that turns the onset into victory. 

It is not a little remarkable that the 
American nation, which, so far as com- 
merce is concerned, has never claimed 
to be mistress of the seas, should have 
had a navy whose exploits from first to 
last have been the surprise and wonder 
of the world. 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



361 



During the year following the great 
battle of lyake Erie was fought one of 
the most important land and naval bat- 
tles of the century. 

At the western end of Jamaica is 
Negril Bay, a wide, safe and convenient 
anchorage. There, on the 24th of No- 
vember, 18 14, was assembled one of 
the most imposing and efficient com- 
bined naval and military forces that 
Great Britain has ever sent across the 
Atlantic. More than fifty ships were 
there, most of them men-of-war, and 
the remainder transports. The men- 
of-war included many vessels of the 
largest size, and their commanders 
numbered amongst them the most re- 
nowned and trusted English officers. 

Renowned Commanders. 

Sir Alexander Cochrane' s flag was 
Loisted on the 80-gun Tonnant, and he 
had with him Rear-Admiral Malcolm 
in the 74, Royal Oak. Sir Thomas Hardy 
— Nelson's Hardy — was in the Ramilis, 
and Sir Thomas Trobridge was in the Ar- 
niide. Many others there were, scarcely 
less well known to fame and fresh from 
the great deeds which had given to 
England the undisputed sovereignty of 
the seas. The decks of the fleet were 
crowded with soldiers. The 4th, 44th, 
85th, and the 21st Regiments, with a 
proportion of artillery and sappers, had 
come from North America, where they 
had fought the battle of Bladensburg, 
burned the public buildings of Wash- 
ington, and lost in action their general 
— the gallant Ross — during the past 
summer. 

These had just been joined by the 
93rd Highlanders, six companies of 
the 95th Rifles, two West India Regi- 
ments, two squadrons of the 14th Dra- 



goons (dismounted), with detachments 
of artillery and engineers, and recruits 
for the regiments which had been al- 
ready campaigning in America. The 
whole probably formed an army of 
about 6,000 men, though of them r 
could not be said that above 4,400 were 
troops on which a general could thor 
oughly depend, as the two West India 
Regiments, being composed of negroes, 
were not completely trustworthy, par- 
ticularly if they were to be called upon 
to endure much exposure to cold in 
coming service. 

Formidable Fleet. 

Thtir leader was Major-General 
Keane, a young and dashing officer, 
who had been sent out from England 
to be sv°cond in command to General 
Ross, and who did not know till he 
reached Miideira on his voyage that, 
by Ross's lamented death, he had no 
senior. Other forces were also on their 
way, which would eventually join the 
great armament now in Negril Bay. A 
fleet from Bordeaux was still on the 
ocean, the naval squadron of Captain 
Percy was to effect a junction from Pen- 
sacola, and more ships were to come 
from England conveying a commander- 
in-chief. 

The object with which so much war- 
like power had been collected had long 
been studiously kept secret, but at last 
it was known that a descent on Louis- 
iana was intended, and that the first 
operation would be the capture of New 
Orleans. It was thought that the Gov- 
ernment of the United States would be 
taken by surprise, that little or no re- 
sistance would be met with, and that 
the charges of the expedition would be 
more than covered by the large booty 



362 VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAIy JACKSON. 



in cotton, sugar and other products 
which had not been able to leave the 
country during the course of the war 
while the seas were watched by English 
cruisers. 

There was no longer delay at the 
place of rendezvous, and the great fleet 
got under weigh on the 26th November. 
Confidence was in every heart, and no 
forebodings of disaster clouded the an- 
ticipations of success which, as by sec- 
ond nature, came to soldiers and sailors 
accustomed to victory. 

Loyalty was Doubtful. 

New Orleans is built on the east 
bank of the Mississippi, the "father of 
waters," about eighty miles from its 
mouth. In 18 14 its inhabitants num- 
bered from 20,000 to 30,000, of whom 
the majority were French Creoles, while 
the remainder were Spaniards and 
Americans, besides a floating multitude 
of merchants, sailors and others who 
had been detained in the city and de- 
barred from their usual avocations by 
the war. It was doubtful whether this 
population was loyal to the American 
Republic, of which it had only for a 
few years formed a part, and, indeed, if 
the defense of the town had fallen into 
less vigorous hands than it did, it is 
more than likely that serious disaffec- 
tion might have showed itself. 

The mighty flood of the Mississippi, 
bearing down with it a vast accumula- 
tion of detritus, had formed a great 
delta, and the waters themselves found 
their way to the Gulf of Mexico 
through many channels. Its main out- 
let was, however, the only one naviga- 
ble for ships of any size, and this had 
at its mouth a constantly shifting bar, 
which was impassable for any craft 



drawing over sixteen or seventeen feet 
of water. Besides the natural difficul- 
ties of the entrance to the river, it was 
further defended by a fort, strong in it- 
self and almost impregnable by its posi- 
tion in the midst of impervious swamps. 
Even supposing that an enemy should 
be able to pass the bar and the first fort, 
he would find that when he had as- 
cended the river about sixty miles two 
other strong forts presented themselves, 
whose cross fire swept the' channel, at 
a point, too, where the river makes a 
bend, and the sailing ships of the day 
had to wait for a change of wind tk 
ensure their further progress. 

No Place for Landing. 

The banks of the river were composed 
of slimy morasses, rank with semi-tro- 
pical vegetation and intersected by 
bayous, or creeks, utterly impracticable 
for landing or for the march and man- 
oeuvring of troops. To the east of the 
swampy delta formed by the great river, 
a shallow sheet of open water stretched 
inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and 
was only divided from the Mississippi 
at its further extremity by a narrow 
neck of comparatively firm land, and on 
this neck was situated the town of New 
Orleans. The open water near the 
gulf was known as Lake Borgne, and, 
where it widened out eastward of the 
city, as Lake Pontchartrain. 

The entire width of the neck of land 
between Lake Pontchartrain and the 
river might vary from eight to ten 
miles, but of this about two-thirds was 
reed-grown morass, while the remainder 
was occupied by cotton and sugar plan- 
tations, separated by strong railings 
and drained by numerous deep ditcher 
or canals. The whole at certain seasor. ■ 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. Z6B 



of the year was below the level of the 
river, and was protected from inunda- 
tion by high artificial dykes, or ram- 
parts, called in Louisiana levees. 

♦'Old Hickory." 

When the designs of the British ar- 
mament became apparent, Major-Gen- 
eral Jackson, of the Unite States army, 
an officer who had greatly distinguished 
himself in Indian wars, was entrusted 
with supreme command at the threat- 
ened point, and arrived at New Orleans 
on the 2d of December. As a man who 
made his mark in history, and who 
served his country well at a great crisis 
in her fortunes, his personal description 
is of peculiar interest: — " A tall, gaunt 
man, of very erect carriage, with a 
countenance full of stern decision and 
fearless energy, but furrowed with care 
and anxiety. His complexion was sal- 
low and unhealthy, his hair was iron 
grey, and his body thin and emaciated, 
like that of one who had just recovered 
from a lingering and painful illness. 
But the fierce glare of his bright and 
hawk-like eye betrayed a soul and spirit 
which triumphed over all the infirmi- 
ties of the body. His dress was simple 
and nearly threadbare. A small leather 
cap protected his head, and a short 
Spanish blue cloak his body, whilst his 
feet and legs were encased in high dra- 
goon boots, long ignorant of polish or 
blacking, which reached to the knees. 
In age he appeared to have passed about 
forty-five winters." 

Immediately on his arrival at New 
Orleans, General Jackson began making 
every arrangement for the defence of 
the town, inspecting and improving 
the river forts, reconnoitring the shores 
of Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchar- 



train, fortifying and obstructing the 
bayous which gave a waterway to the 
near neighborhood of the town, and 
stimulating and encouraging the peo- 
ple. In truth he had apparently no 
easy task before him. 

We have seen how mighty was the 
force arrayed against him, which was 
even now lying off the coast ready to 
advance in a wave of invasion. To 
oppose it he had at his immediate dis- 
posal only two newly-raised regiments 
of regular troops, a battalion of uni- 
formed volunteers, two badly equipped 
and imperfectly-disciplined regiments 
of State militia — some of whose pri- 
vates were armed with rifles, some with 
muskets, some with flowling-pieces, 
some not armed at all — and a battalion 
of free men of color, the whole amount- 
ing to between 2,000 and 3,000 fighting- 
men. Two small vessels of war lay in 
the river, but these were, so far, un- 
manned. There were also six gun- 
boats on Lake Pontchartrain. Commo- 
dore Patterson was the senior naval 
ofiicer, and he had few subordinates. 

Hurrying to the Rescue. 
Reinforcements were, however, on 
their way, and were strenuously push- 
ing forward in defiance of the incle- 
ment season, swollen streams, nearly 
impassable roads, and scant supply of 
food and forage. General Coffee, with 
nearly 3,000 men, was coming from 
Pensacola. General Carroll was bring- 
ing a volunteer force from Tennessee, 
and Generals Thomas and Adair, at the 
head of 2,000 Kentuckians, were also 
on their way down the Mississippi to 
join in the defence of Kentucky's sister 
State. Such an army as — even when 
all should be assembled — General Jack- 



364 VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAI. JACKSON. 



son was to command would, to all seem- 
ing, have little chance in a ranged field 
against the highly-disciplined soldiery 
of England; but it had, for its greatest 
and most reliable advantage, the occu- 
pation of a position in the highest de- 
gree difficult of approach, and, when 
reached, capable by its nature of effec- 
tual resistance. 

Fleet All There. 

On December 8th the leading ships 
of the English fleet, which had left Ne- 
gril Bay on November 26th, anchored 
oflf the Chandeleur Islands, which stud 
the gulf opposite to the entrance of 
Lake Borgne; and by the 12th the 
whole of the men-of-war and troopships 
had arrived. It had been recognized 
that to advance against New Orleans 
by the channel of the Mississippi was 
a task too difficult to be attempted, 
and Sir Alexander Cochrane and Gen- 
eral Keane had determined to effect a 
landing on the shore of Lake Pont- 
chartrain, and hoped, by pushing on at 
once, to be able to take possession of 
the town before effectual preparation 
could be made for its defence. 

It has been said that Lake Borgne 
and Lake Pontchartrain were shallow; 
indeed, their depth varied from six to 
twelve feet. The troops were, there- 
fore, transferred from the larger into 
the lighter vessels, and on the 13th 
were prepared to enter upon the transit 
of the land-locked waters. They had 
not proceeded far, however, when it be- 
came apparent that the American gun- 
boats which occupied the lake were 
prepared to offer resistance to the move- 
ment, and, until that resistance could 
be removed, no disembarkation could 
be attempted. 



The gunboats, with their light 
draught of water, could bid defiance to 
even the lightest vessels of the English 
fleet, which could not float where they 
sailed. They could only be reached 
by ship's launches and barges rowed by 
seamen, and a flotilla combined under 
Captain Luckier of the Navy was at 
once prepared for the enterprise. The 
boats pushed off, and by noon came in 
sight of the foe, who would willingly 
have retreated and given their attackers 
long and weary toil in their approach, 
but that, the morning breeze having 
died away, they were compelled per- 
force to fight at anchor in line moored 
fore and aft. Captain Lockier resolved 
to refresh his men before he commenced 
the action, and dropping his grapnels 
just out of reach of the enemy's guns, 
allowed his crews to eat their dinner. 

Brilliant Fighting. 

After an hour's repose the boats again 
got ready to advance, and, with a hearty 
cheer, they moved steadily in a long 
line. Then began one of those brilliant 
boat actions in which some of the best 
qualities of the English sailors so often 
showed themselves. The American 
guns opened, and a hail of balls was 
showered on Captain Lockier' s flotilla. 
One or two boats were sunk, others 
disabled, and many men were killed 
and wounded. But the English car- 
ronades returned the fier, and, as the 
determined, stalwart rowers gradually 
closed with the Americans, the marines 
were able to open a deadly discharge 
of musketry. 

A last powerful effort, the gunboats 
were reached, and, cutlass in hand, the 
bluejackets sprang up their sides. The 
resistance was stern and unyielding, 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



365 



worthy of the American Republic. 
Captain Lockier received several severe 
wounds, but, fighting from stem to 
stern, the boarders at length overpow- 
ered their enemy, the " Stars and 
Stripes" was hauled down, and on 
every vessel the English flag was hoist- 
ed in its place. 

A Rough Journey. 

On the waterway of the lakes there 
was now no longer any resistance, and 
again the light vessels, to which the 
troops had been transferred, essayed to 
pass over it. But the depth beneath 
the keels became less and less, and even 
the lightest craft one after another stuck 
fast. The boats were of necessity 
hoisted out, and the soldiers, packed 
tigh'cly in them, cramped in one posi- 
tion, began a mis^able transit of thirty 
w'iles to Pine Island — a barren spot 
*vhere all were to be concentrated be- 
fore further operations were attempted. 

No boat, heavily laden as all were, 
could cover the long distance in less 
than ten hours, and, besides the discom- 
fort to the men, inseparable from such 
long confinement, matters were made 
infinitely worse by a change in the 
weather. A heavy rain began, to which 
a cloak formed no protection, and such 
as is only seen in semi-tropical coun- 
tries. 

The operation began on the i6th, 
and, with all the diligence and con- 
tinued exertion of which officers and 
men, soldiers and sailors, were capable, 
it was not finished until the 2ist. By 
day and night for these days boats were 
being pulled from the fleet to the island 
and from the island to the fleet. The 
strain upon the sailors was terrific, and 
»nany of them were almost without ces- 



sation at the oar. Not only had they 
to support hunger, fatigue and sleepless 
nights, but the constant changes of 
temperature aggravated the hardships. 
Drenching rain by day alternated with 
severe frosts by night, and tried to the 
uttermost the endurance of all. Nor 
was the army, as it landed in successive 
detachments on Pine Island, in a better 
plight. Bivouacked on a barren, swampy 
spot, which did not even produce fuel 
for camp fires, the clothes which had 
been saturated with rain by day and 
congealed into hard and deadly chilling 
husks by night, with no supply of food 
but salt meat, biscuit, and a little rum 
provided from the fleet, soldiers have 
seldom been exposed to more severe 
trials of their fortitude. 

British Fortitude. 

But, in spite of all, no complaints or 
murmurings rose from the expedition. 
The miseries of the present were for- 
gotten in the high hopes of the imme- 
diate future, and this confidence did 
not arise alone from trust in their own 
strength, but deserters from the enemy 
related the alarm that existed in New 
Orleans, assured the invaders that not 
more than 5,000 men were in arms 
against them, that many of the city's 
inhabitants were ready to join them 
when they appeared, and that conquest, 
speedy and bloodless, was within their 
grasp. 

Meanwhile, in New Orlean; itself. 
General Jackson had been meeting 
difficulties, working to restore confi-j 
deuce, and providing for the necessities 
of the military situation with all the 
energy of his nature. The news of the 
disaster to the American gunboats had 
filled the people with alarm. Rumors 



666 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



of treason began to spread, an insur- 
rection of the slaves was dreaded, the 
armed ships in the river were still un- 
manned, and the expected reinforce- 
ments had not arrived. A desperate 
situation demanded the strongest and 
/^most unusual measures. Jackson did 
not hesitate to adopt them, and assumed 
the great responsibility of proclaiming 
martial law, so that he could wield the 
whole resources of the town, and direct 
them unimpaired by faction against his 
foe. 

Expresses were sent to the approach- 
ing additions to his strength, urging 
them to increase their efforts to push 
forward. The two war vessels — the 
Carolina and Louisiana — whose possi- 
ble importance as factors in the ap- 
proaching struggle was recognized, 
were manned and prepared fcr service ; 
and even a lawless semi -piratical band 
of smugglers was forgiven its crime, 
taken into the service of the Republic, 
and organized into two companies of 
artillerymen. So great, however, was 
the lack of war munitions that even 
the flints of these privateers' pistols were 
received from them as a precious prize, 
and were forthwith fitted to muskets. 

Oompleting Preparations. 

The whole of the English field army 
was assembled on Pine Island on the 
2 1st of December, but having been so 
long on board ship, and its various 
corps having been gathered from many 
different points, it became necessary, 
before further advance was made, to 
form it in brigades, to allot to each 
brigade a proportion of departmental 
staff— such as commissaries, medical 
attendants, etc. — and to establish depots 
of provisions and military stores. 



In completing these arrangements 
the whole of the 22d was passed, and it 
was not till the morning of the 23d 
that General Keane's advanced guard 
could start for its descent on the main- 
land. This advanced guard was made 
up of the 4th, the 85th Light Infantry, 
and the six companies of the 95 th 
Rifles. To it were attached a party of 
rocket-men and two light three-pounder 
field-pieces. The whole was under the 
command of Colonel Thornton, 85th. 

Short of Transports. 

The main body of the force was di- 
vided into two brigades — the first com- 
P9sed of the 21st, 44th, and one West 
India regiment, with a proportion of 
artillery and rockets, under Colonel 
Brook ; and the second, containing the 
93d and the other West India regiment, 
under Colonel Hamilton, also provided 
with rockets and field-guns. The dis- 
mounted dragoons remained as a per- 
sonal bodyguard to the general until 
they could be provided with horses. 

It was intended that the descent of 
the army on the mainland should take 
place on the bank of the Bayou Bienvenu 
— a long creek which ran up from Lake 
Pontchartrain to within a short distance 
of New Orleans through an extensive 
morass. Every boat that could be sent 
from the fleet was to be used for the 
service, but not more could be provided 
than were sufficient to transport a third 
of the army at one time. 

The undertaking was therefore most 
hazardous, as, if the troops were placed 
in proximity to the enemy in successive 
divisions at long intervals of time, each 
might be cut to pieces in detail. Neither 
leaders nor rank and file were, however, 
men to be deterred even by excessive 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 367 



risks, and, as has been said, they had 
the assurance of deserters that great 
resistance was not to be anticipated. 
Colonel Thornton's advanced guard 
was therefore embarked. Many miles 
had to be traversed, and again the sol- 
diers were exposed to long hours of 
confinement in a cramped position ; 
again the heavy rain of the day was 
succeeded at sundown by a bitter 
frost. 

Nor could they proceed after dark 
had set in, and, during the long weary 
hours of night, the boats lay in silence 
off their landing-place. By nine o'clock 
on the following morning, however, the 
landing was effected, and with limbs 
stiffened and almost powerless, with 
little available food to restore exhausted 
strength, i,6oo men- stood at last upon 
the enemy's shore. 

In a Wilderness. 
Wild and savage was the scene where 
the little band found itself. A scarcely 
distinguishable track followed the bank 
of the bayou. On either side was one 
huge marsh, covered with tall reeds. 
No house or vestige of human life was 
to be seen, and but few trees broke the 
monotony of the dreary waste. For- 
bidding as was the spot, and ill-adapted 
for defence in case of attack, it might 
have possibly been supposed that Gen- 
eral Keane, who accompanied the ad- 
vanced guard, would have here re- 
mained in concealment till the boats, 
which had returned to Pine Island, had 
brought the remainder of his force ; 
but he judged it best to push on into 
more open country, influenced by the 
hope of striking a swift and unexpected 
blow, and by his fairly well-founded 
doubts whether even now his enemy's 



scouts might not now be hovering round 
him. 

The advance was formed, and, after 
several hours' march, delayed by the 
difficulties of the marshy road, by the 
numerous streams and ditches that had 
to be crossed, and by the fetid miasma 
that filled the air, the track began to 
issue from the morass, there were wider 
and wider spots of firm ground, and 
some groves of orange trees presented 
themselves. 

The Advance Discovered. 

It was evident that human habitations 
must be near, and increased caution 
and regularity became necessary. At 
last two or three farm houses appeared. 
The advanced companies rushed for- 
ward at the double and surrounded 
them, securing the inmates as prisoners, 
There was a moment of carelessness, 
however, and one man contrived to 
eflfect his escape. Now all further hope 
of secrecy had to be abandoned. Gen- 
eral Keane knew that the rumor of his 
landing would spread with lightning 
speed, and all that was left to him was 
to act with determination, and make 
the appearance of his force as formid- 
able as possible. 

The order of march was re-formed so 
that, moving upon a wide front, the 
three battalions had the semblance of 
twice their real strength, and the pace 
was quickened in order to gain a 
good military position before an enemy's 
force could show itself Onward they 
pressed, till they found themselves close 
to the bank of the mighty Mississippi 
and wheeling to the right, they were on 
the main road leading to New Orleans. 

They faced towards the city on a 
narrow plain, about a mile in width, 



368 VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAI, JACKSON. 



with the river on their left, and the 
marsh which they had quitted on their 
right. A spot of comparative safety 
had been reached, the little column 
halted, piled arms, and its bivouac was 
formed. It was late in the afternoon 
before the moment of repose came, but 
the soldiers prepared to make the most 
of it ; outposts were placed to secure 
them from surprise, foraging parties 
collected food, and fires were lighted. 

The evening passed with one slight 
alarm, caused by a few horsemen who 
hovered near the pickets, and darkness 
began to set in. In the twilight a 
vessel was seen dropping down the cur- 
rent, and roused curiosity among those 
who had not stretched themselves by 
the fires to seek much-needed sleep. It 
was thought that she might be an Eng- 
lish ship, which had managed to pass 
the forts at the mouth of the river. 
She showed no colors, but leasurely 
and silently she dropped her anchor 
abreast of the camp and furled her sails. 
To satisfy doubt she was repeatedly 
hailed, but no answer was returned. 
A feeling of uneasiness began to spread, 
and several musket shots were fired at 
her, but still reply came not from her 
dimly-seen bulk. 

Roar of Guns. 
Suddenly she swung her broadside 
toward the bank, and a commanding 
voice was heard to cry, "Give them 
this for the honor of America." The 
words were instantly followed by the 
flash and roar of guns, and a deadly 
shower of grape swept through the 
English bivouac. The light artillery 
which had accompanied General 
Keane's advance guard was helpless 
against so powerful an adversary, and 



nothing could be done but to withdraw 
the exposed force behind the shelter of 
the high levee. The fires were left 
burning, and, in the pitch-dark night, 
those who were uninjured were forced 
to cower low while the continued storm 
of grape whistled over their heads, and 
they could hear the shrieks and groans 
of their wretched comrades who had 
been wounded by the first discharge. 

Blaze of Musketry. 

Thus they lay for more than an hour, 
when a spatting fire of musketry was 
heard from the pickets which had been 
able to hold their position. Whether* 
this fire was only the sign of slight 
skirmishing at the outposts, or whether 
it foreboded a serious attack, was for 
some minutes doubtful, but a fierce yell 
of exultation was heard, the blackness 
of night was lighted by a blaze of mus- 
ketry fire breaking out in semi-circle 
in front of the position, and the cer- 
tainty came that the enemy were upon 
the advance guard in overpowering 
numbers. 

The situation seemed almost des- 
perate. Retreat was impossible, and 
the only alternatives were to surrender 
or to beat back the assailants. General 
Keane and his followers were not the 
men to surrender, and at once assumed 
the bolder course. The 85th and 95th 
moved rapidly to support the pickets, 
while the 4th' were formed as a reserve 
in the rear of the encampment. In the 
struggle that followed there was no 
opening for tactics, none for the super- 
vision and direction of a general, or 
even of the colonels of battalions. 

The darkness was so intense that all 
order, all discipline were lost. Each 
man hurled himself direct at the flashes 



VICTORIES OF commodore; perry and general JACKSON. 



369 



of musketry ; if twenty or thirty united 
for a ^noment under an officer, it was 
only to plunge into the enemy's ranks 
and to engage in a hand-to-hand con- 
flict, bayonet against bayonet, sword 
against sword. In the dire confusion 
of the bloody melee it soon became im- 
possible to distinguish friend from foe. 

Americans G-ive Way. 

The British field-artillery dared not 
fire for fear of sweeping away Ameri- 
cans and Englishmen by the same dis- 
charge. Prisoners were taken on both 
sides, and often released at once by the 
sudden rush of assistance. As both 
armies spoke the same tongue a chal- 
lenge was of no avail, and till the 
deadly thrust or shot came no man 
could be certain who stood in front of 
Vim. 

In the nature of ithings such fighting 
could not be of long continuance. The 
Americans, astonished by the vigor of 
the assault, gave way, and were fol- 
lowed up for some distance ; but the 
English officers strove to rally their 
men, and to make them fall back to 
their first position; and soon all but 
those who had fallen were re-formed 
and concentrated. The Americans had 
been repulsed on all sides, but the fight 
had cost the English dearly, as, includ- 
ing the loss from the fire of the ship, 
46 were killed and 167 wounded, be- 
sides 64 taken prisoners. 

The miserable night wore on, but 
with the morning's dawn there came a 
renewal of the inglorious peril. The 
schooner whose fire had been so dis- 
astrous on the preceding evening still 
lay off in the river, and had now been 
joined by another vessel- They were 
the Carolina and lyouisiana. Safe from 
24 



any retaliation, their guns covered the 
shore and effectually precluded any 
movement of the English, who were 
obliged — hungry, cold and wearied — to 
seek shelter under the levee from the 
shower of projectiles which swept the 
plain. 

But meanwhile the rest of the army 
was landing, and hastening to join their 
comrades. The roar of the cannon had 
been heard far over the waters of Lake 
Pontchartrain, and had added energy 
to the strong arms that were pulling 
the boats. By nightfall on the 23rd the 
two brigades had both arrived on the 
scene of battle, and had taken up their 
ground between the morass and the 
river, but throwing back their left, so 
as to avoid the fire of the ships. 

The Brave Defenders. 

The advanced guard could at last be 
extricated from the trap into which it 
had fallen, and the night of the 24th 
was passed in quiet and in disheartened 
speculation whether the advance could 
be resumed or not. The responsibility 
of decision was, however, removed from 
General Keane by the unexpected ar- 
rival on the morning of the 25th of Sir 
Edward Pakenham and General Gibbs, 
who had been sent from England as 
first and second in command. 

Let us see what had been the course 
of affairs in New Orleans while the 
events just related were occurring. At 
the time that the English army was 
concentrating at Pine Island the de- 
fence of the city still depended alone 
on the small, half-organized force which 
General Jackson had found under his 
hand on his first arrival. But on the 
2 1st the long-expected reinforcements 
began to pour iu. General Cofiee — the 



ZtO VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



numbers of his following terribly re- 
duced by the toils of an unprecedentedly 
rapid march — came at the head of 
mounted Tennessee sharpshooters, hun- 
ters and pioneers from their youth. 
Colonel Hinds brought the Mississippi 
Dragoons. On the 2 2d General Car- 
roll's flotilla arrived with a further 
body of Tennesseeans, and, what was 
almost more important, a supply of 
muskets. 

Costly Delay. 

The aififerent corps were not yet, 
however, actually united in one body, 
and when the sudden report came that 
General Keane had actually landed, 
there was no military cohesion among 
them. If the English advanced guard 
had pushed at once on the city, instead 
of bivouacking during the afternoon of 
the 23d, they might possibly have en- 
countered no combined resistance, and 
have overthrown the Americans in de- 
tachments. But Keane' s halt, however 
much it may possibly be justified, gave 
Jackson the opportunity he required, 
and enabled him to put all his men in 
line. The Carolina and Louisiana were 
sent down the river, with what result 
we have seen. The land troops were 
hurried to meet the enemy in the field, 
and the bitter struggle on the night of 
the 23d took place. 

When Sir Edward Pakenham took 
over the command of the English army 
he found himself in as unsatisfactory a 
position as could well fall to the lot of 
any general. He found himself com- 
mitted to a course of action which he 
had not initiated, and of which possibly 
he did not approve. He found his force 
in a cramped position, which offered no 
scope for the operations of highly trained 



and disciplined soldiers, and he learned 
that its advanced guard had suffered, if 
not a defeat, at least a very serious 
check. If the end of the campaign was 
failure, he certainly should not be laden 
with all the blame. Carefully he re- 
connoitred the situation, and carefully 
he considered the state of affairs. 

It was evident that no advance could 
be made as long as the Carolina and 
Louisiana were able to pour forth their 
murderous fire, and the night of the 
25th was employed in erecting on the 
/^vee batteries armed with heavy ship- 
guns sent from the fleet. When these 
opened with red-hot shot on the morn- 
ing of the 26th, the doom of the Caro- 
lina was sealed, her crew escaped in 
their boats, and she blew uj). The 
Louisiana effected her escaj^e while her 
consort was the sole object of the Eng- 
lish artillery. Now that the river was 
thus cleared, and the left flank of his 
force was no longer exposed to destruc- 
tion if it moved forward on the road to 
New Orleans, Pakenham made his dis- 
positions for decisive advance. 

Plan of Battle. 

He reorganized his army, dividing it 
into two columns. That on the right 
— consisting of the 4th, 21st, 44th, and 
one West India Regiment — he placed 
under command of General Gibbs ; the 
other — comprising the 95th, 85th, 93d, 
and the other West India regiment, 
with all the available field-artillery, 
now increased to ten guns — remained 
under General Keane, and was to take 
the left of the line, while the dragoons, 
few of whom were yet mounted, fur- 
nished the guards to hospitals and stores. 

But there was still much to do. Heavy 
guns, stores, and ammunition had to be 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 371 



brought from the distant fleet, the 
wounded had to be disposed of, and the 
numberless requirements of provision 
and protection for an army in the field 
had to be attended to. For two days 
the Knglish lay perforce inactive, 
though their outposts were exposed to 
constant harassing and deadly attack 
from the American sharpshooters and 
partisans. 

In European war, by tacit conven- 
tion, pickets and sentries confined them- 
selves to the duties of watchfulness 
alone ; but the riflemen of America saw 
in every enemy's soldier a man to be 
killed at any time, and they stalked in- 
dividuals as they would have stalked 
deer in their own backwoods, slaying 
and wounding many, and causing anx- 
iety by the never-ceasing straggling fire. 

Begins to March. 

At length all was ready for the long- 
delayed advance, and on the bright, 
frosty morning of the 28tli the army 
began its march. Confidence in a new 
commander of high reputation had re- 
stored spirits to the men ; cold, wet, 
hunger, and broken rest were forgotten, 
and as the enemy's advanced corps fell 
back before them, hopes of conquest 
were renewed. Four or five miles were 
traversed without opposition. On the 
dead flat of the plain nothing could be 
seen far in advance of the columns, and 
they had no cavalry to scout in front 
and say what lay in their path. 

Suddenly, where a few houses stood 
at a turning in the road, the leading 
files came in view of the foe's position. 
In their front was a canal, extending 
from the morass on their left towards 
the river on their right. Formidable 
breastworks had been thrown up, pow- 



erful batteries erected, while the L^ouisi- 
ana and some gunboats moored in the 
Mississippi flanked their right. Sudden 
and tremendous was the cannonade, 
withering the musketry fire that burst 
upon the English column and mowed 
down their ranks. Red-hot shot set 
fire to the houses which were near to 
them. 

Infantry Hurled Back. 

Scorched by flame, stifled with smoke, 
shattered by the close discharge, the 
infantry were, for the time, powerless, 
and had to be withdrawn to either side 
of the line of attack, and the artillery 
were hurried forward to reply to the 
American guns. To no purpose. The 
contest was too unequal. The heavy 
guns in the batteries and the broadsides 
of the Louisiana destroyed the light 
English field-pieces almost before they 
could come into action. The infantry 
again pressed forward, only to find 
themselves hopelessly checked by the 
canal. Staggered, shaken, and dis- 
ordered, the English columns reeled 
under the blows which they had re- 
ceived. 

A halt was ordered, and then, slowly, 
sullenly, with sorrow, the whole force 
fell back. Again Sir Edward Paken- 
ham found himself obliged to bivouac 
by the river side instead of occupying 
New Orleans, again he had to consider 
how the determined American resist- 
ance was to be overcome. The Eng- 
lish bivouac was formed two miles from 
the American lines. A sorry place of 
rest it was. 

Once more the outposts were ex- 
posed to the stealthy attacks of an 
ever-vigilant, cunning, and active foe. 
Even the main body was hardly secure, 



372 VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



for, by giving their guns a great eleva- 
tion, the Americans were occasionally 
able to pitch their shot among the 
camp fires. 

Jackson Fortifying. 

The possibility of turning the ene- 
my's left by penetrating the morass 
which protected it was contemplated, 
but the idea had to be abandoned as 
soon as conceived. In the meanwhile 
General Jackson was vigorously at work 
in strengthening his already strong po- 
sition. Numerous parties could be seen 
laboring upon his lines, and daily rein- 
forcements came in to swell the num- 
bers of their defenders. By the sugges- 
tion of Commodore Patterson, a strong 
field-work was constructed on the op- 
posite bank of the river, and armed 
with heavy ship-guns, from which a 
flanking fire could be poured on all the 
space over which the English must at- 
tack. 

In view of the many difficulties which 
presented themselves. General Paken- 
ham called a council of war, which was 
attended by all the English naval and 
military leaders. It was impossible to 
carry the American lines by assault, for 
their powerful artillery would deal cer- 
tain destruction to infantry columns. 
To turn them was impossible, and their 
defenders could not be induced by any 
manoeuvring to leave their protection. 
The council decided on the only other 
possible alternative — to treat them as a 
regular fortification, and, by breaching 
batteries, to try to silence some of their 
guns, and to make in them a practicable 
gap, throng which an entrance might 
be effected. 

To give effect to this resolution the 
29th, 30th, and 31st December were 



employed in bringing up heavy cannon, 
accumulating a supply of ammunition, 
and making preparations as for a regu- 
lar siege. When these arrangements 
were complete — arrangements which 
demanded the most strenuous and unre- 
mitting toil from everyone, from the 
general in command to the humblest 
private soldier — hesitation had no place 
and delay was at an end. Under cover 
of night, on the 31st, half of the army 
stole silently to the front, passing the 
pickets, and halted within 300 yards of 
the American lines. 

Here a chain of works was rapidly 
marked out, the greater part of the 
detachment piled their firelocks, and 
addressed themselves vigorously to work 
with pick and shovel, while the remain- 
der stood by armed and ready for their 
defence. So silently and to such good 
purpose was the work performed, that 
before the day dawned six batteries were 
completed, in which were mounted 
thirty pieces of heavy ordnance. 

Shrouded in Gloom. 

The morning of the ist January, 
1 81 5, broke dark and gloomy. A thick 
mist obscured the sun, and, even at a 
short distance, no objects could be seen 
distinctly. The English gunners stood 
anxiously by their pieces, and the whole 
of the infantry were formed hard by, 
ready to rush into the breach which 
they hoped to see made. Slowly, very 
slowly, the mist at length rolled away, 
and the American camp was fully 
exposed to view. 

As yet unconscious of the near pre- 
sence of the thirty muzzles which were 
ready to belch forth their contents, the 
Americans were seen on parade. Bands 
were playing, colors flying, and there 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 373 



was no preparation for immediate deadly 
struggle. Suddenly tlie English batter- 
ies opened, and the scene was changed. 
There was a moment of dire confusion, 
a dissolution of the ordered masses 
which stood ready for review by their 
general. The batteries were unmanned, 
the pieces silent. But, though the 
English salvo was unexpected, there 
was no real unreadiness to resist and to 
reply to its stern challenge. 

Storm of Shot and Shell. 

The American corps fell quickly into 
their positions in the line of defence, 
their artillery, after brief delay, opened 
with rapidity and precision, the furious 
cannonade on both sides rent the air 
with its thunder, and battery answered 
battery with storm of shot and shell. 
Heavy as was the attackers' fire, how- 
ever, it produced comparatively little 
efiect on the solid earthworks of the 
defence, while the numerous guns which 
Jackson had mounted, aided by the 
flanking fire from the works on the 
opposite bank of the river, were crush- 
ing in their power. 

Hour after hour the duel continued, 
and yet no advantage was gained which 
would warrant Pakenham in hurling his 
infantry at the fortifications that stood 
in their front. The EngHsh ammuni- 
tion began to fail and their fire slack- 
ened, while that of the Americans 
redoubled in vigor ; and towards evening 
it became evident that another check 
had been suffered, and that again the 
invading army must fall back. 

Dire was the mortification in the 
English ranks, bitter the murmurs that 
spread from man to man. The army 
had endured hardships with cheerful- 
ness, they had undertaken severest toil 



with alacrity, but they had thought that 
victory was their due, and still they 
encountered repeated defeat. Now their 
encampment was open to the enemy's 
unremitting fire, and advance or retrejit 
seemed equally impossible. 

But Pakenham had some, at least, of 
the best qualities of a leader. He 
refused to lose heart, and adopted apian 
which well merited success by its bold- 
ness, and whose ultimate failure was in 
no way to be credited to any laxity on 
his part. He had recognized that the 
enemy's flanking battery on the right 
bank of the Mississippi was his greatest 
obstacle, and he conceived the idea of 
sending a strong force across the river, 
which should carry this battery by 
assault and turn its guns against the 
Americans themselves, while a simul- 
taneous attack should be delivered di- 
rectly upon the intrenchments. 

All at Work. 

To do this, however, a sufficient num- 
ber of boats must be provided, and it 
was necessary to cut a canal from the 
Bayou Bienvenu wide and deep enough 
to float the ships' launches now in the 
lake. Upon this arduous undertaking 
the whole of the force was at once set to 
work. Day and night the labor was 
carried on ; relay after relay of soldiers 
took up the task, and by January 6th it 
was accomplished. No better means 
could have been taken to restore the 
spirits of the men than the imposing of 
work, however hard, which seemed to 
promise a definitely favorable influence 
on their fortunes. 

Discouragement and forebodings were 
still further dissipated by the unex- 
pected arrival of Major-General Lambert 
with the 7th and 43rd, two fine battal- 



874 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



ions, each mustering 800 effective men. 
Further reinforcements of marines and 
seamen also joined, bringing the Eng- 
k-sh fighting strength up to nearly 




ANDREW JACKSON. 

12,000. At the same date, General Jack- 
son had probably about 5,000 under 
his command. 

It has been said that the canal from 
the bayou to the river was finished on 
the 6th, and no time was lost in carry- 
ing out the plan of which it was so 
great a factor. Boats were ordered up 
for the conveyance of 1,400 men, and 
Colonel Thornton, with the 85th, the 
marines, and a party of sailors, was 
appointed to cross the river. But ill- 
fortune still dogged the Bnglish gen- 
eral, still it seemed fated that his best- 
laid plans should be frustrated by acci- 



dent. The soil through which the 
canal was dug being soft, part of the 
bank gave way, choking the channel 
and frustrating the passage of the heavi- 
est boats. These, in turn? 
impeded others, and, in- 
stead of a numerous flo^ 
tilla, only sufficient for 
about 350 men reached 
their destination, and 
even these did not arrive 
at the time appointed. 

It was intended that 
Colonel Th^'u ton's force 
should cross the Missis- 
sippi immediately after 
dark on the evening of 
the 7 th. They were to 
carry the enemy's battery 
and point the guns on 
Jackson's lines before 
daybreak on the 8th. The 
discharge of a rocket was 
to give them the signal 
to commence firing, and 
also was to let loose the 
rest of the army in a di- 
rect attack. 

The disposition for thij. 
attack was as follows : — General Keane» 
with the 95th, the light companies of the 
2 1st, 4th, and 44th, and the two West 
India regiments, was to make a demon- 
stration on the enemy's right ; General 
Gibbs, with the 4th, 21st, 44th, and 93rd 
should force their left ; whilst General 
Lambert, with the 7th and 43rr\ re-'' 
mained in reserve. Scaling-ladders and 
fascines were provided to fill the ditch 
and mount the wall ; and the honorable 
duty of carrying them to the point of 
attack was allotted to the 44th, as being 
the regiment most experienced in Amer- 
ican war. It was hoped that the fate of 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 375 



New Orleans would be sealed on the 8th 
January. 

While the rest of the army laid down 
to sleep on the night of the 7th, Colonel 
Thornton, with 1,400 men, moved to 
the river's brink. But the boats had 
not arrived. Hour after hour passed 
before any came, and then so few were 
they that only the 85th, with about 50 
seamen — in all 340 men — could be em- 
barked. The duty admitted of no hesi- 
tation or delay, and Colonel Thornton, 
with his force thus sadly weakened, 
pushed off. 

Fatal Errors. 

The loss of time was irreparable. It 
was nearly dawn ere they quitted the 
canal, and they should have been on the 
opposite bank six hours earlier. In vain 
they made good their landing without 
opposition ; day had broken, the signal 
rocket was seen in the air, and they 
were still four miles from the battery 
which ought long before to have been 
in their hands. 

Before daylight the main body was 
formed in advance of the pickets, ready 
for the concerted attack. Eagerly they 
listened for the expected sound of firing, 
which should show that Thornton was 
doing his work ; but they listened in 
vain. Nor did Pakenham's plan fail him 
in this respect alone. The army, in its 
stern array, was ready for the assault, 
but not a ladder or a fascine was in the 
field. The 44th, who had been ap- 
pointed to bring them, had misunder- 
stood or disobeyed their orders, and 
were now at the head of the column 
without the means of crossing the 
enemy's ditch or mounting his parapet. 

Naturally incensed beyond measure, 
the general galloped to Colonel Mullens, 



who led the 44th, and bade him return 
with his regiment for the ladders ; but 
the opportunity for using them was lost, 
and when they were at last brought up 
they were scattered useless over the field 
by the demoralized bearers. 

A Withering Fire. 

The order to advance had been given, 
and, leaving the 44th behind them, the 
other regiments rushed to the assault. 
On the left a portion of the 21st, under 
the gallant Rennie, carried a battery, 
but, unsupported and attacked in turn 
by overpowering numbers of the enemy, 
they were driven back with terrible 
loss. The rest of the 21st, with the 
4th, supported by the 93rd, pushed with 
desperate bravery into the ditch, and, in 
default of the ladders, strove to scale the 
rampart by mounting on each other's 
shoulders — and some, indeed, actually 
effected an entrance into the enemy's 
works. 

But, all too few for the task, they 
were quickly overpowered and slain, or 
taken prisoners. The withering fire 
that swept the glacis mowed down the 
attacking columns by companies. Vain- 
ly was the most desperate courage dis- 
played. Unseen themselves, the de- 
fenders of the entrenchments fired at a 
distance of a few yards into the throng 
that stood helplessly exposed, while 
the guns on the other side of the river 
— yet unmenaced — kept up a deadl- 
cannonade. Never have English soldiers 
died to so little profit, never has so 
heavy a loss been so little avenged. 

Sir Edward Pakenham saw his troops 
in confusion, and the wavering in effort 
which ever preludes hopeless flight. 
All that a gallant leader could do was 
done by him. The 44th had come up, 



876 VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 



but in so great disorder that little could 
be hoped from such a battalion. Riding 
to their head, he called for Colonel 
Mullens to lead them forward, but he 
was not to be found at his post. Placing 
himself at their head, the general pre- 
pared to lead them in person ; but his 
horse was struck by a musket-ball, 
which also gave him a slight wound. 
He mounted another horse, and again 
essayed to lead the 44th, when again he 
was hit. Death took him before he had 
tasted the full bitterness of defeat, and 
he fell into the arms of his aide-de- 
camp. 

Brave Ofl&cers. 

Colonel Mullens was subsequently 
tried by court-martial and cashiered. 
General Gibbs and General Keane did 
not fail to do their duty as English 
soldiers. Riding through the ranks, 
they strove to restore order and to en- 
courage the failing energy of the attack, 
till both were wounded and were borne 
from the field. Their leaders gone, and 
ignorant of what should be done, small 
wonder if the troops first halted, then 
began slowly to retire, and then betook 
themselves to disordered flight. Great 
as was the disaster, its results might 
have been even more crushing than 
they were but that the 7th and 43d, 
presenting an unbroken, steadfast front, 
prevented any attempt on the part of 
the Americans to quit the shelter of 
their lines in pursuit. 

We left Colonel Thornton and his 
340 men on the right bank of the Mis- 
sissippi, and four miles from the battery 
which they had been detailed to take, 
and whose power was so severely felt 
by the main body of the English army. 
They had seen the signal-rocket which 



told that their comrades were about to 
attack, and late though they were, they 
pressed forward to do their share of the 
day's operations. A strong American 
outpost was encountered, but it could 
not withstand the rush of the 85th, and 
fled in confusion. The position where 
the battery was mounted was reached, 
and to less daring men than Colonel 
Thornton and his little following might 
have seemed impregnable. 

Desperate Assault. 

I/ike their countrymen on the other 
side, the Americans, 1,500 in number, 
were strongly entrenched, a ditch and 
thick parapet covering their front. 
Two field-pieces commanded the road, 
and flanking fire swept the ground over 
which any attack must be made. The 
assailants had no artillery, and no fas- 
cines or ladders by means of which to 
pass the entrenchment. But, unaj^palled 
by superior numbers, undeterred by 
threatening obstacles, the English 
formed for immediate assault. The 
85 th extended across the whole line ; 
the seamen, armed with cutlasses as 
for boarding, prepared to storm the 
battery, and the few marines remained 
in reserve. 

The bugle sounded the advance. The 
sailors gave the wild cheer that has so 
often told the spirit and determination 
of the British service, and rushed for- 
ward. They were met and momentarily 
checked by a shower of grape and can- 
ister, but again they pressed on. The 
85th dashed forward to their aid in the 
face of a heavy fire of musketry, and 
threatened the parapet at all points. 
From both sides came an unremitting 
discharge; but the English, eager to be 
at close quarters, began to mount the 



VICTORIES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND GENERAL JACKSON. 377 



parapet. The Americans, seized with 
sudden panic, turned and fled in hope- 
less rout, and the entrenchment, with 
eighteen pieces of cannon, was taken. 
Too late ! These very guns had been 
able already to take their part in deal- 
ing destrurition to Sir Edward Paken- 
ham's morning attack, and if they were 
now taken — if their defenders were dis- 
persed — they had done all that they 
were wanted to do. 

Even yet, if the disaster to the Brit- 
ish main body had not been so comf)lete 
and demoralizing, they might have 
been turned upon Jackson's lines and 
covered a second assault ; but this was 
not to be. General Lambert, on whom 
had fallen the command of all that 
remained of the army, resolved — per- 
haps, under the circumstances, with 
wisdom — to make no further attempts 
on New Orleans. To withdraw his 



army was, in any case, difificult ; an- 
other defeat would have rendered it 
impossible ; and, as the Americans had 
gained confidence in proportion as the 
English had lost it, defeat was only too 
probable. 

In the last fatal action nearly 1,50a 
officers and men had fallen, including 
two generals, for General Gibbs had 
only survived his wound for a few 
hours. The English dead lay in piles 
upon the plain. Of the Americans who 
had so gallantly defended their country, 
eight only were killed and fourteen 
wounded. 

Alas ! that electricity did not then 
exist to prevent so great a sacrifice of 
honor and life ; for the preliminaries of 
peace between England and the United 
States had been signed in Europe before 
the campaign of New Orleans was be- 
gun. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Great Battle of Gettysburg. 




UR object in this part of the 
present volume is to depict 
only those famous battles in the 
Nineteenth Century which had 
a determining effect upon the fate of 
nations, those decisive contests that 
have either fully settled the important 
questions in dispute, or have had a 
powerful influence in doing this. There 
have been bloody struggles between 
great armies on the battle field that 
may be called crises in the history of 
nations. They have been turning points 
in human affairs. Such a battle was 
that of Gettysburg, a three days' fight 
that turned the tide of fortune in tlie 
great American Civil War. 

Why in the outset the celebrated Con- 
federate commander, Lee, undertook 
the unpromising invasion of Pennsyl- 
vania after the disastrous failure in 
Maryland the fall before, and why once 
north of the Potomac he did not, in- 
stead of looking backwards, cut loose 
entirely from his base and rush for 
Philadelphia and the heart of the North, 
are two moot questions of absorbing 
interest to the veterans of the Civil War. 
After the halt of Longstreet and Hill 
in the vicinity of Chambersburg the 
reason why the invasion was pushed no 
further and Ewell was drawn back from 
the Susquehanna is found in the vigor- 
ous operations of the Union army. 
Meade's unexpected appearance at Get- 
tevsburg admonished Lee that it was 
••oo late to cross the Susquehanna. He 
3'^ 8 



was compelled to concentrate, and his 
defeat brought the invasion and all 
hope of further advance to an end. 

Lee's successes at Fredericksburg and 
Chancellorsville had given him un- 
limited confidence in his troops and the 
natural inclination to belittle his enemy. 
Grant's grip upon Vicksburg compelled 
the reinforcement of the Confederates 
in the West, or such movements else- 
where as would compel Grant to detack 
troops, and thus loosen his hold upon 
the Mississippi stronghold. Lee ob- 
jected at that time to dividing his army 
by detaching any part of it to the West. 
He preferred to do something on his 
own front to relieve the Confederate 
situation. 

Therefore, during May and June, 
1863, his army was strengthened in 
every possible manner, and the crossing 
of the Potomac determined upon in 
order to transfer the war upon Northern 
soil. These were the primary causes of 
the invasion of Pennsylvania, and of 
the great disaster which overtook the 
Confederate army at Getteysburg. 

A movement to the Potomac in force 
was always an easy one for the Confed- 
erate commanders. Covered by the 
Rappahannock and the Blue Ridge 
Mountains, Lee had no difficulty in 
making the march, and on the route 
surprising, capturing and scattering the 
Union forces in the valley under Gen- 
eral Milroy, an officer of ecu i age and 
patriotism, but of very unsound judg- 



GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



379 



ment and little military capacity. Until 
Lee knew what effect his tentative move- 
ments were having on the Union army 
at Fredericksburg, under Hooker, his 
march was hesitating and uncertain. 
Hooker had quickly detected the Con- 
federate withdrawal and foreshadowed 
what actually followed, an invasion. 

Across the Potomac. 

He asked President Lincoln for per- 
mission to cross the Rappahannock and 
make a dash for Richmond, which it is 
now clear from the official reports of 
Lee would instantly have called him 
back to the defense of his capital. Mr. 
Lincoln, however, doubted the expe- 
diency of Hooker's bold project. It is 
probable after the Chancellorsville dis- 
aster he had misgivings as to Hooker's 
nerve and capacity. He, therefore, pre- 
vented the proposed counter move on 
Richmond, and henceforward Hooker 
contented himself with simply moving 
on interior lines to cover Washington. 
The moment Lee perceived that Hooker 
had withdrawn from the line of the 
Rappahannock his hesitation disap- 
peared. Longstreet and Hill imme- 
diately followed Ewell in to the Shen- 
andoah Valley. 

On June 1 5 th the Confederate General 
Ewell crossed the Potomac at Wil- 
liamsport. Jenkins, with his cavalry, 
was pushed forward to Chambersburg ; 
Rodes's division occupied Hagerstown, 
Md., and that of Edward Johnson, 
Sharpsburg, while Early's division 
tlireatened Harper's Ferry from the vi- 
cinity of Shepherdstown. 

On the 2 1st, while occupying these 
positions Ewell received orders fr m 
Lee to "take Harrisburg." At this 
time the Confederate army was strung 



out from Fredericsburg to Chambers- 
burg, a most extraordinary and danger- 
ous disposition in the immediate pre- 
sence of the enemy. After Hooker's 
withdrawal from Fredericsburg the long 
Confederate line was now rapidly 
shortened by the concentration of Long- 
street and Hill at Chambersburg. 

On the 24tli Hill's corps crossed the 
Potomac at Shepherdstown and vici- 
nity, while Longstreet was crossing at 
Williamsport. These two corps went 
into bivouac at Chambersburg on the 
27th, where they remained quietly un- 
til the 29th of June, their foraging par- 
ties meanwhile collecting supplies and 
raiding the country in every direction. 

A Ravenous Horde. 

Their ravages were fearful. The 
honest farmers and burghers of Mary- 
land and the lower counties of the old 
Keystone State must have been aghast 
at the hungry hordes swarming up 
from the South. General Lee, with 
cool irony, reported that he gave orders 
that all supplies taken must be care- 
fully paid for, which was done in Con- 
federate notes, then being worth but 
little in the South itself, and nothing 
whatever in Pennsylvania. A Union 
scout at Hagerstown reported that the 
Confederates carried their money in 
flour barrels. The reckless abandon- 
ment of these soldiers to liberality is 
illustrated in the astonishment of one 
rich old farmer, who was forced to take 
a five dollar Confederate note instead 
of fifty cents in Union money for two 
old horse-shoes. 

Ewell had rapidly marched on Car- 
lisle with Rodes's and Johnson's divi- 
sions, sending Early to York. Carlisle, 
only fifteen miles from Harrisburg, 



380 



GREAT BATTLE OP GETTYSBURG. 



was occupitd on the 27tli and York 
oil the 28th. This movement had 
again somewhat scattered the Con- 
federates, but Lee at Chambersburg 
with two-thirds of his army was about 
ready to move forward in support of 
Ewell's advance against Harrisburg 
when something happened. General 
Hooker had followed Lee across the 
Potomac ; his movements up to June 
28th had been well conceived and ad- 
mirably carried out. 

His eventual purpose had been to 
throw himself across Lee's line of com- 
munications with the Potomac and 
force the Confederates to a decisive en- 
gagement on his own terms. But a dis- 
agreement arose between the General- 
in-Chief, Halleck, at Washington, and 
General Hooker, in regard to the dis- 
position of the Union troops at Harper's 
Ferry, and Hooker had thereupon asked 
to be relieved of the command of the 
Army of the Potomac. Halleck had no 
confidence in Hooker, and the latter' s 
request was instantly granted. 

Two Gallant Commanders. 
At that time there was only two offi- 
cers in that army whose character and 
achievements had raised them to the 
plane of so high and important a com- 
mand. They were Major General John 
F. Reynolds, commanding the First 
Corps, and Major General George G. 
Meade, commanding the Fifth Corps. 
It is a curious fact that they were both 
Pennsylvanians, and both were also 
West Pointers. Reynolds ranked Meade, 
and it is known that it was the original 
intention of the military authorities to 
confer the chief command on him when 
Hooker should go. But Reynolds had 
been sounded, and bad declined the 



command unless allowed certain free- 
dom of action, which it was deemed 
inadmissable to grant. Therefore the 
command was conferred upon General 
Meade, who in turn gave the Fifth 
Corps to General Sykes. 

A Masterly Man. 

This change occurred near Frederick, 
Md., on the morning of June 28, only 
three days before the armies met in 
mortal combat at Gettysburg. Meade 
was an able officer, who had grown up 
with the Army of the Potomac, and 
had the confidence of all the superior 
generals. He was, perhaps, not a dash- 
ing fighter, like Hooker or Reynolds, 
but he was, nevertheless, a man of 
courage and judgment, and knew how 
to marshal troops on the field of battle 
as well as any officer living. The three 
chief figures in the Army of the Poto- 
mac, Meade, Reynolds and Hancock, 
were all Pennsylvanians, and all to 
perform leading parts in the drama 
upon Pennsylvania soil. 

The new Fedefal commander, after 
taking his bearings, abandoned Hook- 
er's plan of merely following Lee and 
placing the Union army square across 
his communications. Meade's direc- 
tions from Halleck were to cover Wash- 
ington and Baltimore. General Meade 
pushed all his corps directly northwards 
on the inner line, with the object of 
attacking any of Lee's forces that came 
in his way, under the belief that this 
would compel the« Confederates to im- 
mediately drop his movement across 
the Susquehanna and turn and fight. 
That was precisely the immediate efiect 
of Meade's movement. 

This forward movement of the Union 
army, then, was what had happened to 



GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



381 



change Lee's plans. Instead of order- 
ing Longstreet and Hill forward to the 
rich fields of the Susquehanna, in sup- 
port of Ewell, and, perhaps, to the 
sacking of Harrisburg and Philadel- 
phia, the concentration of 
the great rebel fighting ma- 
chine was to be effected 
by drawing Ewell' s scat- 
tered divisions back to 
Gettysburg. It is worth 
noting here that upon learn- 
ing of the rapid concentra- 
tion of the Union army on 
his immediate flank Lee's 
original idea was to concen- 
trate about Chambersburg. 
There are many well-in- 
formed people who still 
cling to the exploded no- 
tion that the battle of Get- 
tysburg was an accident. It 
was not so. 

After considering the sit- 
uation for a few hours after 
the necessity for withdrawal 
of Ewell was admitted, Gen- 
eral Lee perceived the im- 
portance of Gettysburg as 
a great strategic position by 
reason of the many excellent turnpike 
roads which radiate therefrom. At 
Gettysburg he would not only occupy 
a commanding position from which to 
deliver battle, but one available from 
which to fall back toward the Potomac 
and one threatening both Washington 
and Baltimore. These considerations 
impelled Lee to change his previous 
order to Ewell to come back to Cham- 
bersburg, in the following terms : 

*' Headquarters Army of Northern 
Virginia, Chambersburg, June 28, 1863, 
—Lieutenant General R. S. Ewell, 



Commanding Corps — General : I wrote 
you last night stating that General 
Hooker was reported to have crossed 
the Potomac, and is advancing by the 
way of Middletown, the head of hi-^ 




GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE. 

column being at that point, in Frederick 
county. I directed you in that letter 
to move your forces to this point. If 
you have not already progressed on the 
road, and if you have no good reason 
against it, I desire you to move in the 
direction of Gettysburg, via Heidlers- 
burg, where you will have a turnpike 
most of the way, and you can thus join 
your other divisions to Early's, which 
is east of the mountains. I think it 
preferable to keep on the east side ot 
the mountains. ^ 

"R. E. Lee, General.^* 



\ 



882 



GREAT BATTLE "OF GETTYSBURG. 



The history of the event is proof that 
in thus changing the point of concentra- 
tion from Chanibersburg, which was 
behind the screen of a mountain range, 
to Gettysburg, in the close presence of 
his enemy, General Lee made a serious 
mistake. We can now see that he was 
playing into General Meade's hands. 
It is obvious, however, from his Pipe 
Creek plan of defensive battle, that 
General Meade expected that Lee would 
be compelled to do this very thing. 
Had Lee remained at Chanibersburg 
Meade would have been compelled to 
cross the mountain to beat him up, and 
thus might have become the aggres- 
sor against some strong position and 
been defeated. 

General Meade's Plan. 

On the 28th and 29th the northward 
movement of the Union army had been 
rapid ; General Reynolds had been put 
in command of the left wing, on the 
danger flank of the advance. It was 
composed of the First, Third and 
Eleventh Corps. On the 29tli these 
three corps, commanded by a fighting 
General, who saw his native State for 
the first time under the iron heel of tlie 
invader, were within ten miles of Get- 
tysburg. On the 30th Reynolds, with 
the First Corps, had advanced to Marsh 
creek, within four miles of Gettysburg, 
while the Third and Eleventh Corps 
remained at Emmittsburg. 

It was during this day that General 
Meade's policy of fighting behind the 
Pipe creek line a defensive battle be- 
comes manifest in the movement of the 
troops. While Reynolds was far out 
toward the front and left, feeling for 
the enemy, with orders to fall back be- 
hind Pipe creek if practicable or advis- 



able, in case of collision, the other corps 
of the army were back from ten to 
twenty-five miles from Gettysburg. 
On the afternoon of the 30th Buford's 
division of cavalry had occupied Gettys- 
burg, and remained there. 

How the Battle Began. 

Let us now turn to the Confederate 
columns that we may understand how 
the explosion occurred at Gettysburg, 
and not along Pipe creek, as Meade 
tentatively hoped it would. Rodes, of 
Ewell's corps, was moving on Gettys- 
burg from Carlisle, at the north, by 
way of Heidlersburg ; Early was mov- 
ing on Gettysburg from York, at the 
east, by way of Heidlersburg; Hill's 
corps, followed by Longstreet's two 
divisions of Hood and McLaws, was 
moving on Gettysburg from Chanibers- 
burg, at the west, joined by Johnson's 
division, of Ewell's somewhere in the 
vicinity of Cashtown, in the movement 
of the 1st of July. Most of Hill's corps 
was bivouacked at and about Cashtown 
on the night of the 30tli, ready to re- 
sume tlie march in the morning. Early 
and Rodes were not far from Heidlers- 
burg. 

Fifty thousand Confederates were 
within eight miles of Gettysburg on 
the morning of July ist, which was 
occupied by Buford's small division of 
cavalry, supported by the First Corps 
of 9,000 infantry, four miles off. Be- 
sides these there were approximately the 
30,000 men of the Third, Eleventh and 
Twelfth Corps from eight to ten miles 
away. None of the Union troops were 
in motion. 

On the morning of July i, 1863, Gen- 
eral Heth's division of Hill's Confed- 
erate Corps marched on Gettysburg to 



GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



383 



capture some shoes for his men, fol- 
lowed by Pender's division. Buford's 
cavalry had been put in position some 
two miles in front of the town, squarely 
across the road to Cashtown, and op- 
posed Heth's advance. These opposing 
troops collided about 
9.30 A. M., on Wednes- 
,day, July i. Buford's 
position made the con- 
centration of the Con- 
federate army at Get- 
tysburg impossible un- 
less he was brushed 
away. That was the 
job now undertaken 
by Heth, which pre- 
cipitated the greatest 
battle of the Civil War. 
Heth, acting under 
Lee's orders, did not 
know this, but thought 
he was making a sim- 
ple raid for shoes. 

Buford had detected 
the advantages of Get- 
tysburg, and deter- 
mined to hold the town 
until he could hear 
from Reynolds. He had 
been fully convinced as 
early as the night previous that the 
whole Confederate army was converg- 
ing on Gettysburg. He sent a courier 
to Reynolds with tlie information that 
the Confederates in force were coming 
down the Cashtown pike, and asking 
for help and directions. Reynolds, 
burning to fight at the first opportunity, 
immediately put the First Corps, under 
Doubleday, in motion to support Bu- 
ford, and despatched orders to the Third 
and Eleventh Corps, further in the rear, 
to move forward rapidly. His oppor- 



tunity had come. The Pipe Creek line 
dropped out of his mind instantly, and 
he made ready for battle. 

He then rode forward rapidly to join 
Buford at the front. The two generals 
went up into the belfry of the seminary, 




GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET. 

situated on Oak Ridge. An examina- 
tion of Heth's lines and the road beyond 
Willoughby's run through their field 
glasses disclosing the rapid advance of 
large bodies of Confederate infantry and 
artillery, corroborated Buford's shout 
to Reynolds on his arrival that the 
"devil was to pay." Reynolds came 
down and sent couriers in different di- 
rections to hurry forward the Union 
infantry. Buford's cavalry was now 
hard pressed and slowly yielding to 
Heth's advance. 



384 



GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, 



Buford made a magnificent fight, hold- 
ing the Confederates at bay for an hour 
or two. Heth had orders not to bring 
on a general engagement until Lee's 
army was all up, and his movements at 
first were leisurely. Archer's and 
Davis's Brigades were deployed on the 
right and left of the Cashtown road, 
and pushed forward towards Gettys- 
burg and the shoes they so much 
needed. 

Getting Into Position. 

Reynolds after making a rapid exam- 
ination of the field and surrounding 
topography, which was favorable for 
defensive military operations, and di- 
recting Buford to hold on, with the 
remark that he would bring up his en- 
tire three corps to this point, then rode 
off rapidly to bring forward his leading 
division of infantry, under General 
James S. Wadsworth. It was hurried 
across the fields and swung into line 
behind Buford, who, thus relieved, 
retired to the rear. General Cutler's 
Brigade was on the right of the Cash- 
town road, and Meredith's Brigade of 
Western troops, known in the army 
as the "Iron Brigade," on its left fac- 
ing westward, Cutler confronting Davis 
and Meredith Archer. 

It is pretty well attested that this 
great fight was opened by the Fifty- 
sixth Pennsylvania, under Colonel Wil- 
liam Hoffman, though it has been dis- 
puted by the men of the Second Wis- 
consin, of the Iron Brigade. However 
this may be. Cutler's Brigade was 
struck partially in flank by Davis, and 
quickly repulsed and driven back. On 
the left the Iron Brigade, led by the 
Second Wisconsin, pushed forward for 
McPherson's wooded ridge simulta- 



neously with Archer's entry into it from 
the west. 

At that moment General Reynolds 
rode up fron^ the right, where he had 
been anxiously observing Cutler's dis- 
aster. He ordered the Iron Brigade to 
advance at the double-quick, shouting 
to the Second Wisconsin, " Forward, 
men, forward, for God's sake, and drive 
those fellows out of the woods !" These 
were probably the last words he ever 
uttered. As he turned to look for and 
direct the oncoming supports he was 
struck in the head or upper neck 
by a sharpshooter's bullet and fell 
dead. 

Death of Reynolds. 

But his splendid troops rushed for- 
ward, driving the enemy back, clearing 
the wood and capturing General Archer 
and several hundred of his men. Thus 
perished the great soldier, John F. Rey- 
nolds. His death was a serious blow 
to the Union cause, and for the moment, 
for want of a directing head with pres- 
tige sufficient to give moral weight to 
his commands, endangered Union suc- 
cess. But his courage and ready deci- 
sion determined the field of battle and, 
ultimately, the victory. 

Cutler's lost ground was soon re- 
covered by a brilliant charge of the 
Sixth Wisconsin, of the Iron Brigade, 
upon the flank of the Davis's Confed- 
erate brigade, in which it captured the 
Second Mississippi Regiment and its 
flag. Davis was repulsed, and in turn 
driven back greatly shattered. The 
Union lines were then rectified. The 
Second and Third Divisions of the First 
Corps now arrived, deploying to the 
right and left of Wadsworth under a 
heavy artillery fire. Thus in half an 



GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



385 



hour Heth's advance had been checked 
with heavy loss. 

But his two remaining brigades were 
brought forward, and Pender's fresli 
division of 8000 men were at hand. 
New dispositions were made and the 
battle renewed, Rodes had now ap- 
peared from the north, and was coming 
down upon the right flank of the Union 
line. Here were 24,000 Confederates 
converging on a single Union corps of 
9000 effectives. Besides, Early, from 
York, was also arriving on its right 
rear, with 8000 more. 

The unequal contest was terrible, 
but every effort of Heth, Pender and 
Rodes to break the heroic First Corps 
failed until late in the afternoon. It 
received no help until after mid-day, 
when General O. O. Howard's Eleventh 
Corps, 9000 strong, began to arrive. 

Howard Driven Back. 
Howard assumed general command. 
He sent two of his divisions to the 
north of Gettysburg to protect the right 
flank against Rodes and Early, the lat- 
ter coming on from the north-east. 
General Steinwehr was held in reserve 
on Cemetery Hill, which was fortified. 
But Early got upon the flank of How- 
ard's troops, which were enfiladed by 
his artillery, and, aided by an onset of 
Rodes, they were broken and driven 
back through Gettysburg in disorder. 
This left the First Corps' right and 
rear uncovered, and, in turn, forced its 
rapid retreat through the town to the 
heights beyond, where it joined Stein- 
wehr and formed a new line from Culp's 
Hill westward. The withdrawal of the 
First Corps occurred about 4 p. m. 
Many prisoners were lost by both corps 
in the retreat through the town. 
25 



General Lee arrived on Seminary 
Ridge in time to see the victorious 
advance of his troops and the disorgan- 
ized Federals streaming up Cemetery 
Hill. He sent discretionary orders to 
Ewell to pursue, but that of&cer, en- 
gaged in readjusting his broken lines, 
made no further advance. He has been 
greatly criticised by Confederate parti- 
sans for his failure to follow up his 
advantages. But as the almost impreg- 
nable line of Culp's and Cgmetery Hill 
was defeated by at least 10,000 men, 
3,50c of whom had not fired a gun, sup- 
ported by a powerful artillery, it is 
probable Ewell would have been re- 
pulsed had he attacked. 

He reported that the position was for- 
midable, and that it would have been 
absurd to attack it then in his condi- 
tion. Night closed on the first day's 
battle at Gettysburg. A general battle 
had been precipitated by the fighting 
energy of General Reynolds, in spite of 
Lee's orders to delay an engagement 
until the whole army was up. 

No Jackson There. 

General Lee was now without his 
great leader and incomparable fighter, 
General T. J. Jackson, popularly called 
"Stonewall Jackson," and was com- 
pelled to bear the whole responsibility 
of the engagement. It was thought by 
many that if such an able general as 
Jackson had been on the field the final 
result might have been different. 

The magnitude of this battle of the 
1st set aside all theoretical schemes to 
decoy Lee down to Pipe creek. About 
midday General Meade, at Taneytown, 
was informed of Reynold's death and 
the state of the battle. Later Buford 
sent word that a "tremendous battle 



386 



GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



was raging with varying success ;" that 
"there seems to be no directing head,'' 
and that "we need help now." Gen- 
eral Meade never hesitated when con- 
fronted with the necessity of changing 
his plan ; he prepared to fight at Gettys- 
burg. General W. S. Hancock was 
^ent forward to assume command and 




GENERAI, T. J. (STONEWAIvIv) JACKSON 

advise Meade of the practicability of 
fighting a battle there. His report was 
favorable, and the whole army was im- 
mediately sent forward to Gettysburg. 

Between sundown and 7 a. m. of July 
I St the Second, Third, Fifth and Twelfth 
Corps had arrived and gone into position 
along Cemetery Ridge. The Sixth 
Corps, twenty-five miles away, did not 
arrive until afternoon. General Meade 
himself reached Gettysburg at mid- 



night, and rode his lines, giving orders 
for the disposition of the troops as they 
arrived. General Hunt, its chief, placed 
the artillery. 

On the Confederate side, with the 
exception of Pickett's division and 
Law's brigade, Ivongstreet's corps ar- 
rived on the morning of the 2d, and the 
two armies were now 
concentrated face to face 
for battle. 

General Sickles, with 
the Third Corps, in the 
absence of definite orders, 
had established himself 
somewhat to the front on 
the extreme left, on some 
high ground, forming a 
sort of salient in the main 
line. After some doubts 
whether to attack with 
Ewell on the Union right 
or its left, with Long- 
street, General Lee finally 
selected Sickles as his 
point of attack on the 
2d. Hood and McLaws 
were to attack up the 
Enimittsburg road from 
the south, while Hill 
pressed Sickles in front 
from the west. 

The attack was not de- 
livered until late in the afternoon, but, 
like all of Longstreet's work, it was de- 
livered wnth great impetuosity and ad- 
dress when at last it came. Nearly half 
the Union army was brought to Sickles's 
aid during the battle, and the Confed- 
erate advance was only stopped about 
nightfall, but not until after Sickles had 
been wounded, his corps driven from its 
faulty position and the Union leaders 
almost in despair. It was a fearful trial. 



GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



38T 



But as lyongstreet afterwards said, his 
success had driven the Third Corps back 
into its proper place, where the line was 
unassailable. Longstreet penetrated no 
vital part of the line, but he threatened 
the Union army with a great disaster 
when Hood's men began the ascent of 
Round Top ere it was occupied. But 
General Warren energetically brought 
troops upon the ground in time to 
repulse the enemy and save that vital 
position. Longstreet lost 5,000 men in 
these assaults, and the Union army an 
equal number. 

Union Army Threatened. 

Bwell was to have attacked the Union 
right beyond Gulp's Hill simultane- 
ously with lyongstreet's movement, but 
the concert miscarried, and Ewell did 
not deliver battle until Longstreet' s 
efforts had been exhausted or defeated. 
It was nearly night before Johnson and 
Early advanced, Rodes having failed to 
join in their attack. Early had some 
success at first along the east front of 
Cemetery Hill, but was eventually 
driven back with loss. Farther to the 
right Johnson's main attack was re- 
pulsed by the heroic Greene, but he 
occupied without opposition the breast- 
works of Ruger and Geary, withdrawn 
to reinforce Sickles. 

This unexpected success threatened 
the Baltimore pike and the rear of the 
Union army, but it was too dark for 
the enemy to perceive their advantage, 
and they sunk to rest without further 
effort. In the night Ruger's and 
Geary's commands returned ; finding 
the Confederates in possession, the 
leaders made dispositions to attack at 
daylight and drive them out. 

Although practically repulsed, the 



positions obtained by Longstreet on the 
Union left on the high ground along 
the Emmittsburg road and close up to 
the Round Tops, and by Ewell on the 
right, determined Lee to persist in his 
attack on the Third. It was concluded 
to be feasible to break the Union centre 
along the west front of Cemetery Ridge, 
held by Hancock with the Second 
Corps and part of the First Corps. 
Pickett's division of the fifteen Virginia 
regiments had arrived from Chambers- 
burg. 

This, with Heth's division, was se- 
lected for the work in hand. Pettigrew 
in command of the latter in the absence 
of Heth, wounded. Pickett was on 
the right and Pettigrew on the left ; 
the former was to be supported by 
Wilcox and Perry's brigades, the latter 
by Lane and Scales. Altogether the 
attacking column consisted of not less 
than 15,000 men, but Pettigrew's troops 
were unfit for so desperate an under- 
taking by reason of their fearful losses 
on the 1st. 

A Hard Struggle. 
While these preparations were in 
progress for the final assault a heavy 
battle had begun on the Union right 
for the possession of the abandoned 
breastworks of the Twelfth Corps. 
General Williams, who commanded it, 
attacked Ewell at daylight with the 
divisions of Ruger and Geary, and the 
battle continued with varying fortunes 
until after 10 o'clock. Finally John- 
son's Confederates, driven back at all 
points, sullenly retired across Rock 
creek, and with their retreat the battle 
of Gettysburg ended on the Union 
right in decisive victory. On the whole, 
after the first day's success, Ewell's 



GREAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



efforts throughout the battle had been 
feeble and unavailing. He had been 
unable to bring the decimated division 
of Rodes into action at all, and Early 
and Johnson had been squarely defeated. 
These were the results on the right. 

Thunder of Guns. 

The grand assault of Pickett and 
Pettigrew, under Longstreet, was pre- 
ceded at about i p. M. by a tremendous 
artillery fire from 150 Confederate can- 
non, responded to by perhaps a hundred 
Union guns. This cannonade contin- 
ued for nearly two hours, causing great 
havoc inside the Union lines, but no 
great loss of life. It failed to shake the 
Union soldiery. By order of General 
Hunt the Union fire was slackened and 
finally ceased entirely to give oppor- 
tunity to bring up fresh batteries and 
ammunition to meet a heavy infantry 
assault which it was already divined by 
the Union leaders was now impending. 
It soon developed. 

To reach the Federal lines the Con- 
federates had to march a mile over open 
rolling fields under fire of many bat- 
teries. Their lines of battle, nearly a 
mile long, swept out of the woods along 
Seminary Ridge about 3.30 p. m., and 
the crisis of the battle was at hand. 
Their advance was watched hopefully 
by Lee and Longstreet, and eagerly by 
thousands of admiring eyes on both 
sides. The Federal soldiers were not 
unnerved by the threatening sight; the 
soldiers of Hancock were coolly waiting 
to redeem their losses at Fredericks- 
burg. 

As they came on the Federal shot 
and shell and then canister from a 
hundred guns began to tear wide gaps 
in their lines. This frightful fire came 



from front and flank ; their line was 
enfiladed by the batteries on Round 
Top. Pettigrew' s men on the left be- 
gan to drift and lag behind under the 
weight of the Union fire, and Pickett 
was soon in the lead alone. When 
within a third of a mile of the Union 
front Pickett halted, coolly readjusted 
his lines and changing direction more 
toward the left, resumed his advance. 

Mad Rush of Federals. 

Wilcox and Perry did not change 
their direction, but kept straight on, 
and soon there was a considerable in- 
terval between them and Pickett on the 
latter' s right. Pickett first struck Gen- 
eral Hays's advanced troops, and then 
Gibbon's division. Some of them were 
slightly pressed back at first, but the 
Confederates were quickly overwhelmed 
by the mad rush of the charging Fed- 
erals. General Stannard's Vermont 
brigade changed front and attacked 
Pickett in flank, in the interval caused 
by the movement of Wilcox and Perry 
crowding Kemper's brigade back upon 
the centre and capturing many pris- 
oners. 

At the foot of the acclivity, led by 
x\rmistead, with his hat upon his sword 
point, the Confederates made a last feeble 
rush, and penetrated among seme of the 
Union guns. But attacked on all sides 
by the men of Webb, Hall, Harrow 
and Stannard, they were driven back 
in utter rout. Garnett and Armistead 
were killed and Kemper wounded. 
Pickett lost in this ill-fated charge 3,000 
men in about an hour's time. He had 
no chance from the first. Only a por- 
tion of Pettigrew's command reached 
the front on the Confederate left; they 
were easih- beaten off by Hays' well- 



3REAT BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. 



389 



posted troops who captured nearly 
1,500 prisoners. Wilcox on the ex- 
treme right, was met by Caldwell's di- 
vision in front, and the omnipresent 
Stannard in flank, and beaten 
easily, losing heavily. 

Diirhig the day a heavy cavalry 
battle had been fought for posses- 
sion of the Baltimore pike in the 
Union rear, between Stuart and 
G-regg, and vStuart's designs were 
thwarted, He drew oflf discom- 
fited. Thus, his troops beaten at ^? 
all points, Lee's hopes were shat- ;_; 
tered. He ventured no more offen- 
sive movements. He expected a ,^~/ 
counter attack, bat Meade was sat- 
isfied with the results already ob- 
tained, and awaited Lee's move- 
ments. That night Lee began to 
send his trains and wounded to the 
rear, while he held a fortified line 
along Seminary Ridge throughout 
the 4th to cover their removal. 

After nightfall on the 4th he 
quietly retired from Meade's front 
the Fairfield road toward Hagerstown, 
and the invasion of Pennsylvania had 
come to an inglorious end within te-n 
days of the time Longstreet and Hill 
crossed tUe Potomac to the support of 
Swell. 

IMiis pivotal battle marked the turn- 
•ig point in the success of the Confed- 



erates with as gallant an army as ever 
faced an enemy, and under a general- 
ship unequalled for strategy, dash and 




GENEIRAL ROBERT K. LEE— COMMANDER-IN- 
CHIEF OF CONFEDERATE ARMY. 



bv 



brilliancy. The remainder of the Civil 
War was merely the closing of the great 
tragedy. Other battles were fought 
and the brave vSoutherners continued 
tlie struggle with a courage and des- 
peration that challenged the admiration 
of the world, but their fate was sealed 
and their hopes vanished at the bloody,, 
lilstoric field of Gettysburg. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Battle of Inkerman and Capture of the Malakoff. 



SNKERM AN has been rightly called 
the "Soldiers' Victory," but it 
might be still more justly styled 
"The British Soldiers' Battle." 
It was from first to last — from its un- 
expected opening at early dawn, through 
all its changing episodes in the hours 
before noon and until midday brought 
the crisis, through attack and counter- 
attack, offence and defence, onslaught 
and recoil — one of the finest feats of 
arms accomplished by British troops. 
It takes rank with Agincourt, Rorke's 
Drift, the defence of Lucknow ; with 
New Orleans and Waterloo : equal to 
the best of these, overshadowing some, 
surpassing others ; in its way uniqiie — 
a bright and shining tribute to the war- 
like courage of a nation already laurel- 
crowned. 

Many British battles have been won 
against great odds, under tremendous 
disadvantages ; but none have better 
shown inflexible, unconquerable tena- 
city than Inkerman. It was fighting 
for safety too; had the British been de- 
feated at Inkerman their army would 
have been swept into the sea ; but these 
great issues were not fully realized by 
the rank-and-file. 

They knew they must win the day: 
that was their business, as it always is. 
But the fact that they were so near 
losing it made no great difference to 
them — all they thought of was to come 
to blows, to try conclusions with the 
enemy, to charge him, bayonet him, 
shoot him: always supremely indiffer- 
890 



ent to his vast numerical superiority, 
and quite undismayed by his courage. 

So it was that the strange spectacle 
was seen of a handful resisting thou- 
sands, of a weak company charging 
through battalion columns, of stalwart 
soldiers engaging a crowd of the ene- 
my single-handed and putting them to 
rout. When ammunition ran short, as 
it often did in the deadliest episodes, 
the men tore up great stones and hurled 
them at the foe; a few scores of gun- 
ners, when hard pressed, fought on with 
swords, and rammers, and sponges, and 
sticks, even with fists — for the story of 
the Clitheroe bruiser who felled Rus- 
sian after Russian with knock-down 
blows is perfectly true. 

Men so eager for the conflict found 
officers as willing to lead them ; there 
was no hesitation, no waiting to re- 
form, to rejoin regiments ; any broken 
body gathered round any commander, 
all were ready to stand fast and die, go 
forward and die, do anything but re- 
tire. ''What shall I do?" asked 
Colonel Egerton, at the head of his 
bare 200, when pitted against unknown 
numbers. " Fire a volley and charge P' 
at once answered the brigadier; and his 
aide-de-camp, young Hugh Clifford, 
sprang to the front to be in with the 
first fight. * 

General Pennefather, at the end oi 
five hours' fighting, when he had lost 
more than half his small force, did not 
abate his confidence one jot : if Lord 
Raglan now would only give him a few 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



391 



more men, lie said, lie would finish the 
battle out of hand and " lick the enemy 
to the devil." Waterloo was " hard 
pounding," as Wellington quietly re- 
marked afterwards, but it was nothing 
to Inkernian. 

A Slow Siege. 

The battle of Inkernian was brought 
about by the restored confidence that 
great and overwhelming reinforcements 
gave the Russian generals inside Se- 
bastopol. After the successful landing, 
the victory of the Alma, the unim- 
peded flank march to the south side of 
the still incomplete fortress, the allied 
English and French had achieved no 
fresh triumphs. Prudence had over- 
ruled the daring but not quite unwar- 
ranted counsels to go straight in against 
Sebastopol; an immediate attack was 
deemed too dangerous, the golden op- 
portunity passed, and it became neces- 
sary to sit down before the stronghold 
and reduce it by the slow processes of 
a siege. 

The allies were thus planted in a cor- 
ner of the Crimea, committed to the 
highland or upland of the Chersonese, 
as it was called, the only ground they 
could possibly occupy when attacking 
Sebastopol from the south side — ground 
that no one would have selected had 
choice been unfettered, for it was 
rugged, inhospitable, very extensive, 
and above all exposed on one flank 
right round, almost to the very rear. 
Balaclava, the British base of supply, 
at a distance of six miles from the front, 
lay open to attack by an enterprising 
enemy, and almost the whole length of 
road which connected it with the Brit- 
ish camp. 

How fully the Russians realized this, 



how nearly they overbore the weak re- 
sistance offered by the Turks who de- 
fended this vulnerable point, how nobly 
a handful of British cavalry spent itseK 
in beating back disaster is a well known 
story. 

Prince Mentschikoff", who commanded 
the Russian forces in and about Sebas- 
topol, exultantly foresaw the complete* 
annihilation of the allies. He believed 
that they were at the end of their tether. 
In his reports to St. Petersburg he de- 
clared that the enemy never dared now 
to venture out of his lines, his guns 
were silent, his infantry paralyzed, his 
cavalry did not exist. 

Great Russian Host. 

The Russians, on the other hand, 
were once more enormously in the as- 
cendant : troops had been pouring into 
Sebastopol continuously all through the 
month of October, 1854; a whole army 
corps had arrived from Odessa ; two 
other divisions were close at hand on 
the 2d of November, and by the 4th, 
the eve of the battle of Inkerman, the 
totalof the land forces assembled in and 
around the fortress must have been 
quite 120,000 men. This total was just 
double that of the allies, including the 
Turks, available for all purposes, in- 
cluding the siege of a great fortress, 
which alone might claim the whole 
efforts of the army. 

No wonder, then, that Mentschikoff" 
was full of confidence, that he counted 
upon an easy triumph, nothing less than • 
sweeping the allies off" the upland into 
the sea. " The enemy," he wrote, " can- 
not effect his retreat without exposing 
himself to immense losses. Nothing 
can save him from a complete disaster. 
Future times, I am confident, will pre- 



392 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



serve the remembrance of the exemplary 
chastisement inflicted upon the pre- 
sumption of the allies." Two of the 
Czar's sons were hurried post-haste to 
the Crimea to stimulate the enthusiasm 
of the troops and witness their splendid 
triumph. 

Some inkling of the impending dis- 
aster — prematurely so called, as was 
soon to be proved — crept out and gave 
general uneasiness even at a distance 
from the theatre of war. Friends in 
Russia warned friends in England to 
anticipate terrible news. The great 
effort approaching was prepared under 
the direction of the Czar himself, and 
was of a nature and extent to deal an 
overv/helming blow. 

Another Battle at Hand. 

In the Crimea itsel f vague intelligence 
reached the allied commanders that a 
terrible struggle was near at hand. 
Reports of the reinforcements arriving, 
of the stir and activity within the for- 
tress, the repair of roads, the mending 
of bridges, all the indications that are 
plain as print to the experienced mili- 
tary intelligence, warned Lord Raglan 
and General Canrobert to be on the look- 
out for another momentous battle, for 
which, in truth, they were but badly 
prepared. 

Some idea of the disproportion be- 
tween the armies about to come into 
collision will rightly be given here, so 
that we realize at once how overmatched 
were the allies, how marvellous there- 
fore was their prolonged resistance and 
eventual triumph on that now historic 
5th of November, the Inkerman Sun- 
day which in British annals has eclipsed 
that other anniversary of the Gunpow- 
der plot. 



It has been said above that the Rus- 
sian forces totalled 120,000 in all. Of 
these rather more than half, or 70,000 
men, were actually present in the field. 
All took part in the action, but some only 
as covering forces or engaged in feints : 
these numbered some 30,000; the re- 
mainder, just 40,000, composed the at- 
tacking columns, and fought the battle 
of Inkerman. The whole allied strength 
that day upon the upland of the Cher- 
sonese was 65,000, but barely a quarter 
of these numbers could be or, as a mat- 
ter of fact, were used in the coming 
action. From first to last the total 
French and English forces on the ground 
were just 15,683 — half of each, but more 
exactly 7,464 English and 8,219 French 
— and of the latter 3,570 were actually 
engaged. There is no mistake or ex- 
aggeration in these figures, which are 
based on official returns on both sides. 

Few Against Many. 

It must, moreover, be carefully borne 
in mind that only a proportion, and a 
small proportion, of these 15,000 were 
on hand in the early stages of the fight. 
For hours the brunt of the battle fell 
upon the 2d division, which was barely 
3,000, although opposed to 40,000, and 
the reinforcements came to them in 
driblets slowly and affording but meagre 
assistance and relief It is from the ex- 
traordinary tenacity shown by British 
soldiers in their prolonged and indom- 
itable resistance against such tremend- 
ous odds that such great glory was 
achieved at Inkerman. 

The allied weakness, of which Lord 
Raglan was fully aware, was caused by 
the stress laid upon their forces by the 
siege operations and the need of pro- 
tecting their communications. The 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



39S 



troops, taking them from west to east 
and so to the south and rear, covered a 
front which was twenty miles long. 
Before Sebastopol the French were on 
the left, the English on the right ; but 
General Canrobert, always anxious for 
the rear of his position, kept a large 
force on the heights above the Tcher- 
naya valley, and the English perforce 
garrisoned and defended Balaclava. 

Defence Weakened. 
Hence on the right flank of the Brit- 
ish front, round about Inkerman as it 
came to be called (although the real site 
of old Inkerman is on the opposite side 
of the Tchernaya river), the defence 
was greatly impoverished, being limited 
in the first instance to a few weak bat- 
talions of the 2d division. Its immedi- 
ate support — none too close — was a 
brigade of the Light Division under 
General Codrington on the Victoria 
Ridge adjoining, but on the other side 
of a wide rough ravine; behind, and 
three-quarters of a mile off, was the 
brigade of Guards, twice that distance 
the 2d brigade (Buller's) of the Light 
Division ; the 4th and 3d divisions, 
fronting Sebastopol and more or less 
appropriated to the siege works, were 
two or three miles removed from the 
extreme right flank. 

A French army corps under Bosquet 
was, however, within the lesser distance, 
holding the eastern heights which gave 
General Canrobert so much concern. 
But the forces thus described made up 
the sum total of the allied armed strength , 
and every portion had its particular place 
and specified duties. None could well 
be withdrawn from any part without 
denuding it of troops or dangerously 
weakening the long defensive line. 



There were, in fact, no reserves, no 
second line to call up in extreme emer- 
gency to stiffen and reinforce the first. 
The allies were fighting with their 
backs to the wall. Retreat was impos- 
sible because there were no fresh troops 
to interpose and cover it. 

Serious Situation. 
The weakness of the 2d division in 
such an isolated and exposed position 
had long been a source of serious mis- 
giving. Its commander, Sir DeLacy 
Evans, deemed his force — weakened, 
moreover, by constant outpost duty — 
to be perilously small. He called it 
"most serious." Sir George Brown, 
who commanded the Light Division, 
was equally solicitous. Lord Raglan, 
the general-in-chief, knew the dan- 
ger too ; he reported home that his 
men of the 2d division were well posted, 
"but there were not enough of them." 
But he was ever buoyant and hopeful, 
anticipating no great trouble, yet alive 
to his perils and fully prepared to meet 
them. " We have plenty to think of,'* 
he wrote to the English War Minister, 
"and all I can say is that we will do 
our best." 

Strange to say, that best did not in- 
clude any artificial strengthening of 
the position by entrenchments. The 
ground was admirably suited for de- 
fence, and might have been made all 
but impregnable- -or, at least, capable 
of withstanding even determined at- 
tacks. Earthworks would have gone 
far to redress the balance of numbers 
telling so heavily against the allies ; 
but only one meager barrier was erected, 
and even this was destined to prove of 
inestimable value in the battle. 

The prompt use of the spade was not 



394 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



then deeme^d an essential part of the 
soldier's field training, and, as the 
opening of the trenches before Sebas- 
topol had entailed much labor of that 
kind, the troops were spared more of 
it, even although indispensably neces- 
sary as everyone now knows. 

Superior Numbers. 

The Russian general had not failed 
to detect the inherent defects in the 
British line or to note carefully its 
weakest point. Upon this he based 
his plan of operations. He meant to 
envelop and crush the exposed right 
flank by vastly superior numbers, while 
well-timed demonstrations that might 
be expanded into attacks should occupy 
the allied forces at other parts of the 
field. This simple and perfectly plausi- 
ble scheme was to be worked out as 
follows : 

Two great columns, making up a 
combined strength of 40,000 men, with 
135 guns, were to constitute the main, 
the most weighty, and as it came to 
pass, the only real attack. Both were 
drawn from the newly-arrived 4tli or 
Dannenberg's Army Corps. One, call- 
ed the loth Russian Division, com- 
manded by General Soimonoff, which 
had entered and was actually quartered 
within Sebastopol, was to take one 
flank, the left of the English position ; 
the other, under General Pauloff", the 
I ith division, still outside the fortress 
and lying north of the Tchernaya river, 
was to attack the English right. 

Soimonoff"' s force was strengthened 
by other regiments in the garrison, and 
its infantry strength was 19,000, his 
guns 38 in number'. He was to issue 
from Sebastopol at a point between the 
Malakoff" Hill and the Little Redan, 



then follow the course of the Carenage 
ravine, and to come out on the northern 
slopes of Mount Inkerman, where he 
was to join hands with Pauloff", who, 
marching from the heights of Inkerman 
on the far side of the Tchernaya, was 
to cross that river and the low swampy 
ground that margined its course by the 
bridge near its mouth. 

Expected Sweeping Victory. 

This general commanded 16,000 in- 
fantry and had with him 96 guns. His 
orders were to ascend the northern 
slopes of Mount Inkerman and push 
on vigorously till he met with Soimon- 
off". When thus combined the whole 
force of 40,000 (including artillerymen) 
was to come under the direction of the 
Army Corps commander, General Dan- 
nenberg, and his orders were to press 
forward and carry all before him. It 
was confidently expected that noth- 
ing could withstand him — that he would 
'"roll up" the weak opposition of the 
English right, beat all that he encoun- 
tered and sweep victoriously onward 
right past the Windmill Hill to the 
eastern heights in the rear, and within 
easy distance of Balaclava. 

Meanwhile, Prince Gortschakoff", who 
now commanded the army hitherto 
known as Liprandi's, in the valley of 
the Tchernaya, and had under him a 
force of 22,000, with 88 guns, was to 
"contain" Bosquet — occupy his atten- 
tion, that is to say, by feints and false 
attacks upon his position, so that he 
should be held to these heights and 
unable to reinforce the English right. 

Later, when the main attack had 
prospered and Dannenberg's. victorious 
troops were seen well to the south of 
Windmill Hill, GortschakoflT's demon' 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



395 



strations were to be converted into a 
real attack. He was to go up against 
the heights with all his force, drive 
back Bosquet, join hands with Dan- 
nenberg, and the Russians would then 
be in triumphant possession of the 
greater part of the Chersonese upland. 
After that the siege must be raised, the 
allies must be swept off the plateau, 
destroyed, taken prisoner, or hurried 
into disastrous flight upon their ships. 

To Move In Force. 

A third conditional operation was 
entrusted to the troops remaining in 
garrison, under the command of Gene- 
ral Moller. He was to closely " watch 
the progress of the battle," cover the 
right of the attacking troops with his 
artillery without attempting to reply 
to the fire of the allied siege-guns. 
Whenever confusion showed itself in 
the trenches, due to the great wave of 
victory setting from the eastward, he 
was to move out in force, attack and 
seize the siege-batteries. 

Capable military critics have not 
failed to condemn the foregoing plan of 
operations. It erred, in the main attack, 
by trusting too entirely to numbers, 
crowding great masses of men on 
ground not spacious enough to hold 
them. There was not sufficient room, 
indeed, upon the Russian battlefield for 
half the forces engaged. Moreover, 
this ground, imperfectly known to 
the men who held it and might have 
carefully studied it, was cut in two by 
a great ridge, which divided the two 
columns intended Ko join forces, and 
prevented their coj-nbined action. 

General Dannenberg appears to have 
realized this difficulty and wished his 
two generals, Soimonoff and Pauloff, to 



act independently, the former directing 
his effi^rts against the Victoria Ridge, 
altogether to the westward of Mount 
Inkerman, and leaving the latter ample 
space to manoeuvre. But Dannenberg's 
wishes were not distinct orders, and 
Soimonoff, obeying Mentschikoff, the 
general-in-chief, held on to the original 
plan. 

Again, Gortschakofi"'s role condemn- 
ed him to play a waiting game, and 
give no effective help until that help 
was no longer urgently required. He 
was to do nothing, in fact, until the 
main attack had actually succeeded. 
The longer the enemy resisted, the 
longer he remained inactive. Had he 
exerted a stronger pressure, had his 
feints been pushed with more insistence, 
he would have paralyzed the movement 
of the French with Bosquet, and by 
the very direction of his attack weak- 
ened the English defence at Inkerman. 
" His advance was, however, left to 
depend upon a contingency that never 
occurred" — and while he waited for it 
his 22,000 men were of absolutely no 
use in the fight. 

Rough Battle Field, 
The whole surface of the field of bat- 
tle was thickly covered with brushwood 
and low coppice, amidst which crags 
and rocky boulders reared their heads. 
In some places the woods gathered into 
dense forest glades, and in others the 
ravines were steeply-scarped quarries 
difficult of access. 

Soimonoff started at 5 A. M., amid 
darkness and mist, which so favored 
his march that he reached Mount In- 
kerman unobserved, and then and there 
seizing its highest point. Shell Hill, he 
placed his guns in battery on the crest 



396 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



quite unknown to the British outposts. 
The night had been reported unusually 
quiet, although some fancied they heard 



fore the alarm was raised. They were 
pressed back fighting, while the guns 
on Shell. Hill opened a destructive fire. 




VIEW OF TOWN AND FORTRESS OF SEBASTOPOI.. 



the rumbling of distant wheels — the 
wheels, in fact, »f Pauloff's artillery. 
Just before dawn, too — it was Sunday 
morning — all the bells of Sebastopol 
rang out a joyous peal, not for worship, 
but to stimulate the courage of the pious 
Russian soldiery. 

But outpost duty in those days was 
imperfectly performed, and the enemy 
was on top of the British pickets be- 



General Pennefather, who was in tem- 
porary command of the 2d division^ 
realized at once that serious events were 
at hand. It was not in his nature to 
retreat before the coming storm. He 
was a " fine' fighter ; " in another rank 
of life he would have been in his ele- 
ment with a "bit of a twig" at Donny- 
brook Fair. "Whenever you see a 
head, hit it" was his favorite maxim in 



iNkErman and th^ malakoff. 



39^ 



war ; and now, where a more cautious 
leader would have drawn off and lined 
the Home Ridge in defensive battle, he 
thrust forward with all his meagre forces 
to meet the Russian attack. 

This daring system was greatly aided 
by the state of the atmosphere ; in the 
fog and mist no notion of the pitiful 
number of their opponents reached the 
Russians, and the handful of English 
forgot that they were unsupported and 
so few. Pennefatlier's plan, born of his 
fighting propensities and indomitable 
pluck, found favor with his superiors, 
for when presently Lord Raglan, the 
English commander-in-chief, came upon 
the ground, he did not attempt to inter- 
fere, but left the audacious Irishman 
the uninterrupted control of the fight. 

Russian Column Shattered. 

They were meagre indeed — these first 
English defenders of Mount Inkerman. 
Pennefather had of his own barely 3,000 
men all told, and only 500 men came 
up in the first instance to reinforce him. 
But he sent all he had dowt in the 
brushwood out in front till it was filled 
with a slender line. Meanwhile Soim- 
onoff, waxing impatient and having all 
ready, was determined to begin without 
waiting for Pauloff's co-operation. His 
guns on Shell Hill had "prepared" his 
advance, and soon after 7 a. m. he sent 
three separate columns against the left 
of the British position on Home Ridge. 

The first of these, on the extreme 
right- under road column, as it was 
called, got a long way round, when it 
met a wing of the 47th under Fordyce 
and a Guards picket under Prince Ed- 
ward of Saxe-Weimar, before whom it 
turned tail ; the second column had no 
better fortune on the Miriakoff spur; 



the third, following up the course of the 
Miriakoff glen, encountered a wing of 
the 49th under Grant, who at once gave 
the order to " fire a volley and charge." 
His counter-attack was delivered with 
such determination that it carried all 
before it ; the Russian column was 
fairly broken up and driven helter- 
skelter under the guns on Shell Hill. 

Smote Fiercely. 

Now Soimonoff came on in person at 
the head of twelve battalions, nearly 
9,000 men. His aim was the centre 
and left centre of the allies, and for a 
time he made good progress. But the 
first supports, those from the Light 
Division, arriving, Pennefather at once 
used them against Soimonoff. He sent 
on the 88th Connaught Rangers, 400 of 
them who, feeling the whole weight of 
the attack, recoiled, and retreating 'left 
the three guns of Townshend's battery 
in the enemy's hands. Then the 77th 
under Egerton, but led also by the 
brigadier Buller, came up and caught 
Soimonoff's outside column — caught it 
and smote it so fiercely that it fled and 
was no more seen on the field. 

These Russians were 1,500 strong. 
Egerton had no more than 250, but he 
never faltered, and his men, answering 
like hounds to his cry, tore straight on 
at the run and smashed in with irre- 
sistible fury. There was an interval of 
raging turmoil in which the bayonets 
made fearful havoc ; then the Russians 
ran, Egerton pursuing at the charge to 
the foot of Shell Hill. About this time 
General Soimonoff was killed. Eger- 
ton' s action had wide-reaching conse- 
quences. Through it the abandoned 
three guns were recovered, the 88th ral- 
lied, the 77th themselves or their rem- 



;598 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



nant held fast for hours the ground it 
had secured. 

These combats disposed of about half 
the forces Soimonoflf had put forward 
in this attack. The remainder had ad- 
vanced courageously against the allied 
centre by both sides of the post-road ; 
but they also were beaten back, partly 
by the fire of field guns, partly by the 
spirited charge of a couple of hundred 
men of the 44th under Bellairs. 

Russians Repulsed. 

Thus in less than an hour SoimonofF's 
great effort was repulsed; he himself 
was slain, and his men driven off the 
field. For this portion of the loth 
Russian division never regained cohe- 
sion as a formed military force. It was 
no mere defeat but an absolute over- 
throw, in which regiments melted away 
and the whole force was ruined. Many 
excuses have been offered for their 
want of success : the dense mist giving 
exaggerated value to the handful that 
faced them, they perhaps thought the 
enterprise too difficult. 

It is also certain that the English fire 
was murderously effective upon these 
compact columns of attack ; some were 
absolutely decimated, others lost nearly 
all their officers, and all were so shat- 
tered and disorganized that no part of 
them returned to the fight. They ought, 
nevertheless, to have done better ; with 
such greatly superior forces, backed 
up by the incessant fire of a formidable 
artillery, success would probably have 
awaited bolder and braver men. 

Meanwhile a portion of Pauloff's di- 
vision had arrived by a shorter and 
more direct road, while the rest had 
circled round after Soimonoff. Some 
of these people of Pauloff's were at 



once attracted by the Sandbag Battery, 
and, soon taking it from the sergeants' 
guard that held it, made this hollow 
vantage-ground their own. A mass of 
men, three great columns, supported 
this attack, and Pennefather sent Gen- 
eral Adams against them with the 41st 
Regiment. 

He went forward in extended order 
with a wide front of fire, and the Rus- 
sians soon fell away ; those in the bat- 
tery evacuated it ; the columns support- 
ing broke and dropped piecemeal into 
the valley. In this splendid affair 500 
men disposed of 4,000. Again, at the 
Barrier, which the rest of Pauloff's 
men approached with great determina- 
tion, a small body, the wing of the 30th 
Regiment under Colonel Mauleverer, 
achieved an equal triumph — that of 
200 over 2,000. Here it was the British 
bayonet that told, for the men's fire- 
locks were soaking wet and the caps 
would not explode. 

Daring Bravery. 

But Mauleverer trusted to the cold 
steel. Officers leapt down daringly in 
among the Russians ; men followed at 
the charge : the head of the leading 
column was struck with such impetus 
that it turned in hasty retreat, causing 
hopeless confusion in the columns be- 
hind, and all fled, a broken throng of 
fugitives, hundreds upon hundreds, 
chased by seven or eight score. 

This ended the first Russian on- 
slaught. Half Soimonoff 's division was 
beaten out of sight ; 6,000 men were lost 
to Pauloff. At least 15,000 out of 25,- 
000 were "extirpated." as the Russians 
admit in their official accounts, and 
this by no superior generalship but by 
the dogged valor, the undismayed re- 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



39& 



sistance, of just 3,500 Englishmen. It 
was a good omen for the issue of the 
day's fighting, but the end was not yet, 
and a further terrible stress was still 
to be imposed upon the overmatched 
troops. 

Eager for Battle. 

Supports, such as they were, now be- 
gun to arrive. The alarm had spread 
across the upland rousing every soul, and 
in every camp near and far the assem- 
bly sounded, meu rushed to arms, half- 
dressed, fasting, eager only to hurry 
into the fight. Some of the Light Divi- 
sion, as we have seen, had been already 
engaged. General Codrington with the 
rest was in battle array, holding the 
Victoria Ridge with scanty forces. The 
Guards' brigade, 1,200 men, under the 
Duke of Cambridge, was approaching, 
700 already close to the Home Ridge ; 
the 4tli division under Sir George Cath- 
cart, 2,000 strong, was also near at hand. 
These, with the field-batteries, raised the 
reinforcements to a total of 4,700 men. 

Two French battalions had been des- 
patched to support Pennefather, al- 
though from some misunderstanding 
they were not utilized, and Bosquet, 
who had come up with them, returned 
to the Eastern Heights, where he was 
still menaced by Gortschakoff. It was 
not until much later in the day that 
General Bosquet realized that the Rus- 
sians in front of him were only pre- 
tending to attack, and then he hurried 
with substantial forces to Mount Inker- 
man. But until then he allowed him- 
self to be tied, ineffectively to the 
wrong place, giving no assistance in 
the main fight and certain to be " rolled 
up" in his turn if that fight ended dis- 
astrously for the English. 



General Dannenberg had now as- 
sumed the chief command, and, un- 
daunted by the first failure, he set 
about organizing a fresh attack. He 
had at his disposal 19,000 fresh and un- 
touched troops: Soimonoff's reserves 
and Paulolf's regiments which had 
come round by the lower road. The 
latter, 10,000 strong, were sent against 
the English centre and right, their first 
task being the recapture of the Sand- 
bag Battery. General Adams was still 
here with his 700 men of the 41st Re- 
giment, and he made a firm stand ; 
4,000 men attacked him again and 
again with far more courage and per- 
sistence than any Russian troops had 
yet shown ; and at last, still fighting 
inch by inch Adams fell back, leaving 
the battery in the enemy's hands. 

Taken and Re-taken. 

Now the Guards came up under the 
Duke of Cambridge, and replacing 
Adams, went forward with a rush and 
recovered it, only to find it a useless 
possession. It was presently vacated 
by one lot, re-entered by the Russians, 
recaptured by another lot, and then 
again the Russians, imagining it to be 
an essential feature in the allied de- 
fence, concentrated their force to again 
attack it. Once more they took it, 
once more the Guards returned, and 
with irresistible energy drove them out. 
Thus the tide of battle ebbed and flowed 
around this empty carcase, and to nei- 
ther side did its possession mean loss or 
gain. 

The 4th division, under Sir George 
Cathcart, had now arrived upon the 
ground. He had just 2,000 men, and 
of these four-fifths were speedily distri- 
buted in fragments to stiffen and sup- 



400 



iNKERMAN AND THE MALAKOEF. 



port Pennefather' s fighting line just 
where he thought they were most re- 
quired. With the small residue, not 
400 men, Cathcart was ready for any 
adventure. There was a gap in the 
English line between Pennefather's 
right and the Guards struggling about 
the Sandbag Battery, and this opening 
Cathcart was desired to fill. The order 
came direct from Lord Raglan, who 
was now in the field ; but Cathcart 
thought fit to act otherwise, believing 
that there was an opening for a deci- 
sive flank attack. 

Rushed Like a Torrent. 

He meant to strike at the left of the 
Russians, and leaving his vantage 
ground above he descended the steep 
slopes with his 400 men. The offen- 
sive movement was taken up by the 
troops nearest him — Guards, 20th, 95th. 
All the men gathered about the Sandbag 
Battery rushed headlong like a torrent 
down the hillside, and following up 
this fancied advantage, jeopardized 
the battle. For the gap which Cath- 
cart had been ordered to occupy be- 
came filled by a heavy column of Rus 
sians, who took their enemy in reverse 
and cut them completely off. 

" I fear we are in a mess," said Cath- 
cart, taking in the situation; and al- 
mosx directly afterwards he was shot 
through the heart. Only by a desper- 
ate effort, a series of personal hand-to- 
hand combats fought by small units 
courageously led by junior officers, 
even by non-combatant doctors, did the 
English regain touch with their own 
people. They were aided, too, by the 
opportune advance of a French regi- 
ment, which took the interposing Rus- 
sians in flank and drove them oflf. But 



if this mad adventure of Cathcart's es- 
caped the most disastrous consequences, 
its effect, nevertheless, was to still fur- 
ther break up and disseminate the al- 
ready weakened and half-spent forces of 
the allies. 

Forced Slowly Back. 

All this time, Dannenberg had been 
pressing hard upon the allied centre. 
Here his attacking column met first 
Mauleverer with his victorious army of 
the 30th, and forced them slowly and 
reluctantly back, but was itself repulsed 
by a fresh army of the Rifle Brigade and 
driven down into the Quarry. Thence it 
again emerged, reinforced, and moved 
by the right against the Home Ridge. 
It was in these advances that they pene- 
trated the gap just mentioned and got 
upon the rear of Cathcart and the 
Guards. 

But the westernmost columns were 
charged by a portion of the 4th divi- 
sion, the 2ist and 63d regiments, over- 
thrown and pursued ; while the Russian 
attack on the right of the Home Ridge 
was met by General Goldie with the 
20th and 57th, also of the 4th division. 
Both these regiments were notable 
fighters, with very glorious traditions: 
the "Minden yell" of the 20th had 
stricken fear into its enemies for more 
than a century, and the 57th " Die 
Hards" had gained that imperishable 
title of honor at Albuera, "Fifty- 
seventh, remember Albuera!" was a 
battle-cry that sent them with terrible 
fury into the Russian ranks, and these 
two gallant regiments hunted their 
game right down into the Quarry. 

Once more the most strenuous efforts 
of the enemy had failed, with what a 
cost of heroic lives history still proudly 



INKERMAN AND THE) MALAKOFF. 



401 



tells. Dannenberg, however, if dis- 
heartened was not yet hopeless. He 
knew that the allies were hard pressed; 
if he himself had suffered so had they, 
and more severely. He had still 10,000 
men in hand; many of them, although 
once worsted, were still not disorgan- 
ized or disheartened, and his reserves 
— 9,000 more — were still intact, while 
guns a hundred in number held the 
mastery from Shell Hill. 

Half were Lost. 

Of the Bnglish forces, never more 
than 5,000 strong, half had been de- 
stroyed or annulled. True, the French 
had come upon the ground with two 
battalions, 1,600 men; but Bosquet, 
with the main part of his command, 
was still a long way behind. Dannen- 
berg resolved to make another and more 
determined attack upon the centre of 
the English position, aiming for that 
Home Ridge, as it was called, which 
was the inner and last line of the allied 
defence. 

The Russians came on with a strength 
of 6,000 assailants, formed, as before, 
in a dense column of attack. One led 
the van, the main trunk followed, 
flanked by the others, and all coming 
up out of the now memorable Quarry 
Ravine. Pennefather had some 500 or 
600 to hold the ridge, remnants of the 
55th, 95th, and 77th regiments, and a 
French battalion of the 7th Leger, with 
a small detachment of Zouaves. 

These were very inadequate forces, 
and the Russians, pushing home with 
more heart than they had hitherto 
shown, crowned the crest and broke 
over the inner slopes of the ridge. The 
7th Leger had not much stomach for 
the fight, but were pushed on by the 
26 



Zouaves and the men of the 77th, still 
led by the intrepid Egerton. By this 
time the main trunk column of the 
enemy had swept over the Barrier at 
the head of the Quarry, and the small 
force of defenders retired sullenly be- 
hind the Home Ridge. 

Critical Moment. 

Now the position seemed in immi- 
nent danger, and this was, perhaps, the 
most critical period in the battle. But 
the advance of the Russians, although 
in overwhelming strength, was checked 
by another daring charge — that of a 
handful of the 55th (thirty, no more) 
under Colonel Danberry, who went 
headlong into the thick of one of the 
rearmost Russian battalions. This small 
body of heroes tore through the mass 
by sheer strength, as if it were a foot-ball 
Scrooge, using their bayonets and their 
butt-ends, even their fists, fighting 
desperately till they "cleft a path 
through the battalion from flank to 
flank, and came out at last in open 
air on the east of the great trunk 
column." 

The noise of tumult in the rear and 
the vague sense of discomfiture and de- 
feat shook the leading assailants, and 
the Russians first halted irresolute then 
turned and retired. At this time, too, 
one of the flanking columns, moving 
up on the Russian right, encountered 
the 2ist and 63d regiments, and was 
promptly charged and driven back by 
these regiments, which re-possessed 
themselves of the Barrier and held it. 
Then the Russian left column, worsted 
by British artillery and the French 7th 
Leeer, also retired. 

It was now but little past 9 A.M., and 
as vet the battle, although going against 



402 



mKERMAK AN£) tHH MAtAlCOFi^. 



the Russians, was still neither lost nor 
won. They still held the ascendant 
on Shell Hill, still had their reserves. 
Lord Raglan, on the other hand, could 
not draw upon a single man, and Bos- 
quet's main force was still a long way 
off. Now, too, the French got into 
some difficulty upon the right above 
the Sandbag Battery, and were in im- 
minent danger of defeat. Moreover, 
the Russians made a fresh effort against 
the Barrier, coming up once again out 
of the Quarry. The Barrier was held 
by the 21st and 63d, but the stress put 
upon them was great, and Pennefather 
sent on such scanty support as he could 
spare. Great slaughter ensued in this 
conflict. General Goldie, who was now 
in command of the 4th division, was 
killed, and other valuable officers. 

Allied Guns. 

The Russian artillery did deadly mis- 
chief, but now, by Lord Raglan's unerr- 
ing foresight, it was to be met and over- 
matched by the allied guns. At an 
earlier hour of the morning he had sent 
back to the Siege Park for a couple of 
eighteen-pounders, guns that in the 
enormous development of artillery sci- 
ence we should think nothing of nowa- 
days, but which at Inkerman were far 
superior to the Russian field-batteries. 
So eager were the gunners that these 
two famous eighteen-pounders were 
dragged up to the front with ' ' man har- 
ness,' ' by some hundred and fifty artil- 
lerymen and a crowd of eager officers. 

The guns were placed in a command- 
ing position and worked splendidly 
under the very eyes and with the warm 
approval of Lord Raglan. They soon 
established a superiority of fire and 
spread such havoc and confusion among 



the Russian batteries on Shell Hill that 
the power of the latter began to wane. 
Victory, so long in the balance, was at 
last inclining to the side of the allies. 

Issue in Danger. 

Still the battle was not won. If the 
Russians did not renew their attacks, 
they still held their ground ; and Bos- 
quet, coming up presently with his 
whole strength, made a false move 
which nearly jeopardized the issue. 
The French general, having with him 
3,000 infantry and 24 guns, " hankering 
after a flank attack," reached forward 
on the far right beyond the Sandbag 
Battery and the spurs adjoining. Here 
he fell among the enemy, found himself 
threatened to right and to left and in 
front, and, realizing his peril, hastily 
withdrew. Happily, the Russians did 
not seize the undoubted advantage that 
mere accident had brought them by 
Bosquet's injudicious and hazardous 
advance. Had they gathered strength 
for a fresh and vigorous onslaught upon 
the English right, they might perhaps 
have turned the scale against them. 

The French were clearly discomfited 
and out of heart for a time. Then as 
the Russians made no forward move, 
Bosquet regained confidence ; he threw 
forward his Zouaves and Algerines, and 
these active troops came upon some 
Russians which were slowly climbing 
the slopes, and hurled them down again 
in great disorder. Our old friends the 
6th and 7th French regiments, the earli- 
est on the field, advanced along the 
post-road towards the Barrier, where 
they were covered by the English. 
This, briefly told, was the sum total of 
the French performances at the battle 
of Inkerman. 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



403 



It is well known to all who study war 
that, when the crisis of a battle comes, 
victory is for him who has the best dis- 
posable reserve in hand. Of the forces 
now eno^aged the French alone were in 
this happy situation ; the English were 
all but exhausted. Lord Raglan, as 
has been said, had not a spare man. 
As for the Russians, Gortschakoff's su- 
pineness had robbed his comrades of the 
assistance of 20,000 men, and the gen- 
eral-in-chief, MentschikofF, although 
close at hand on the field, did not see fit 
to bring up the reinforcements from the 
garrison of the town. 

"What Can I Do?" 
But now Marshal Canrobert, never a 
daring leader, was moved to desist from 
the fight. When he learnt that the 
English were all but spent, he would 
do nothing more, although he had a 
very large force of all arms now up and 
well in hand. No arguments, no ap- 
peals of Lord Raglan's would move 
him. "What can I — what can I do?" 
he asked querulously; "the Russians 
are everywhere." Had it been left to 
the French, the field would have been 
abandoned to the Russians, who were 
still in possession of the greater part of 
Mount Inkerman, and the battle would 
have been practically drawn. 

On the other hand, a vigorous on- 
slaught by the still fresh and untouched 
French might have carried the Flagstaff 
bastion and led to the capture of Sebas- 
topol itself. But Canrobert was not the 
man to take so great a risk or jeopardize 
so many lives. It was left to Haines, 
who still held the Barrier, to move up 
against Shell Hill. Lord West sec- 
onded him in this bold endeavor, a 
young lieutenant of the 77th, Acton by 



name, also went on with a mere hand- 
ful, and Colonel Horsford came on in 
support with the remnant of the Rifle 
Brigade. All this time, too, Lord Rag- 
lan's i8-pounders were dealing death 
and destruction among the Russian bat- 
teries ; and at last Dannenberg, under 
stress of this "murderous fire" — they 
are his own words — decided to limber 
up his guns and retire his whole force. 
This, in fact, was done, and about i 
p. M. the Russians admitted defeat. 

Heavy Russian Losses. 

If in this grand contest the allies were 
greatly outnumbered by the Russians, 
the latter suffered the most, their losses 
being four times as great as those of the 
victors. They had 12,000 killed and 
wounded, a large proportion of them 
left dead upon the field, among them 
256 officers. The English lost 597 
killed, 39 of them officers, and 3 general 
officers; 1,760 men and 91 officers 
wounded. The French lost 13 ofiicers 
and 1 30 men killed and 36 officers and 
750 men wounded. 

These figures show plainly on whom 
the brunt of the fighting fell, and the 
enormous losses of the Russians were 
mainly due to the density of their col- 
umns of attack and the superiority of 
English musketry and artillery fire. A 
very large part of the English infantry 
at Inkerman were armed with the new- 
fangled Minie rifle, and what powerful 
aid was afforded by the two i8-pounder 
guns has been already shown in the 
course of the narrative. 

In this Crimean war the key to the 
situation was the renowned fortress of 
Sebastopol, and to capture this was the 
object of the allied armies of England, 
France and Turkey. These took up a 



404 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



position near Balaclava, located south 
of Sebastopol, and began tlie siege of 
that vast fortress. The Russians made 
repeated attempts, with overwhelming 
masses of troops, to force the allied 
position, which led to the bloody bat- 
tle of Inkerman, already described. 

Two Main Outposts. 

There were two main keys or outposts 
to the fortresses, one being the Redan 
and the other the Malakoflf. These were 
provided with all the necessary means 
for a thorough defence. As the siege 
dragged on for many months the main 
efforts of the allied commanders finally 
were directed to closing in upon the 
defences of the town, and as a first step 
it was necessary to gain possession of 
the various outworks and advanced 
posts. These were the White Works, 
the Mamelon, the Quarries, the Mala- 
koflf, and the Redan. It was on June 
the 6th that a fresh bombardment was 
undertaken in order to reduce them, 
both the English and French guns be- 
ing actively engaged — to the number of 
544. The Mamelon was soon crushed, 
the White Works greatly damaged, and 
only the Malakoflf was able to return 
the fire at the close of the day. 

The cannonade was continued all 
through next day and towards dusk. 
Bosquet sent forward two brigades, and 
took possession of the White Works 
without serious opposition, which dur- 
ing the night were incorporated with 
the French trenches. On that same 
evening, June 7th, about 5.30, three 
French columns moved out boldly to 
attack the Mamelon, headed by a brave 
colonel, Brancion, who was slain just 
as his men triumphantly crowned the 
parapet. Another column of Turcos 



took the works by the rear, and this 
combined attack was for a time per- 
fectly successful ; then the Russians, 
reinforced, made a counter-attack, re- 
took the Mamelon, held it for a time, 
and were in their turn again expelled. 
The entry of the French into this 
works was the signal for an attack upon 
the Quarries, and this tough job was 
entrusted to detachments of the 2d and 
L/ight Divisions, the whole under Colo- 
nel Shirley. These Quarries were soon 
carried, but, being at the rear, they were 
searched through and through by the 
enemy's guns, and proved untenable 
until the Russians came out and were 
mixed with the assailants. Then the 
fight rolled back and forward, the vic- 
tory now inclining to this side, now to 
that. In the end, however, when dawn 
broke, the whole of the works the 
allies had attacked remained in their 
hands. 

Awaiting Final Attack. 

This substantial triumph g/eatly 
elated the allies. All who were en- 
gaged in it hoped that a turn was ap- 
proaching in this wearisome siege, and 
impatiently awaited the final attack, 
which must now, surely, be soon made. 
This, indeed, was the fixed intention of 
the allied generals, and in the days fol- 
lowing the last-named captures, meas- 
ures were concerted to assault the inner 
and chief works of the town. 

Even now the Emperor Napoleon 
persisted in advising field-operations, 
and continued to telegraph orders to 
Pelissier, the French commander, to 
that eflfect. The sturdy French general 
protested, pleading how impossible it 
was for him to exercise his command 
"at the end, sometimes paralyzing, of 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



405 



an electric wire " — and still went liis 
own way. To the emperor's last per- 
emptory message he replied: "To- 
morrow, at daybreak, in concert with 
the English, I attack the Redan, the 
Malakoff, and their dependent batteries. 
I am full of hope." 

Bad Generalship. 

Yet this great attack was foredoomed 
to failure. Everything went wrong, 
especially with the French commander- 
in-chief. It is now believed that Pelis- 
sier, although outwardly firm, was 
greatly harassed in mind by the con- 
tinual interference of the emperor. 
Whatever the reason, he made mistake 
upon mistake. In the first place, he 
removed Bosquet from the command of 
the troops that were to attack the Mala- 
koff, and substituted a general but lately 
landed, and quite ignorant of the ground, 
which Bosquet knew, as the French 
say, " as well as his own pocket." 

In the second place, although it had 
been arranged with Lord Raglan that 
the attack should be preceded by a Iwo 
days' cannonade, the fire of the i/tli of 
June was not resumed by the French on 
the fatal uiorningof the i8th, and Pelis- 
sier suddenly decided to attack at day- 
break without it. This, the anniversary 
of Waterloo, when two old foes now 
were to fight side by side, had been 
chosen on purpose, and yet it was to be 
associated with disaster. The French 
columns intended to assault the Mala- 
koff found themselves mixed up and 
confused in the trenches. It was a 
brilliant starlight night, and the Rus- 
sians, seeing them plainly, brought up 
all their strength to resist. 

The assailants, when they moved 
forward, encountered fierce opposition 



from dogged men posted behind works 
rapidly repaired, and the French pre- 
sently retreated with considerable loss. 
The same misfortune met the English, 
for Lord Raglan, although aware of the 
French failure, felt bonnd to also at- 
tack. His men never got near the 
Redan — they were swept away in hun- 
dreds, as they crossed the open, by a 
storm of grape. Their leaders were 
killed. General Campbell and gallant 
Lacy Yea, and the remnant fell back 
disheartened. 

Only at one point, down by the Creek 
battery, that fiery leader Sir William 
Eyre had penetrated the defence and 
entered the town. But he was wounded 
himself, and the lodgment made was 
relinquished, failing proper support. 

Disaster Killed Him. 

From this grievous disaster Lord 
Raglan, who was already in failing 
health, never recovered. The noble 
English soldier, who had long borne 
unmerited contumely in proud silence, 
content to do his duty to the utmost of 
his power, was now heartbroken at this 
defeat, and sinking gradually, he died 
ten days after the iSthof June. How 
greatly his fine character had impressed 
all who were joined with him in this 
chanceful campaign was shown by 
Pelissier's great grief at his death. The 
rugged, stern, intractable Frenchman 
had from the first evinced the highest 
respect and affection for his English 
colleague ; and it is said that when 
Lord Raglan was no more. General 
Peiissier came and "stood by his bed- 
side for upwards of an hour, crying 
like a child." 

But although Peiissier could yield 
thus to his generous emotions, he never 



406 



INKERMAN AND THE MALAKOFF. 



weakened on the business in hand. 
Defeat only redoubled his dogged de- 
termination to succeed in his own way. 
This indomitable attitude at last won 
him the respect of his hitherto hostile 
superiors, and even the Emperor Na- 
poleon, surrendered his beloved projects, 
admitted that now every effort must be 
concentrated on the siege. The affront 
of failure must now be wiped out — 
speedily, if possible, but at any rate 
surely.'j 

Heaps of Dead. 

Progress was still slow, but still the 
force crept steadily forward, until it ap- 
proached in some places the very foot 
of the enemy's defences, while, without 
intermission, the war of weapons con- 
tinued. The English had established 
an overwhelming superiority of fire, 
and their guns worked frightful havoc 
in the garrison. "Losses!" said a 
young Russian officer who had accom- 
panied a flag of truce ; " you don't know 
what the word means. You should see 
our batteries : the dead lie there in heaps 
and heaps." The Russians during the 
last bombardment lost from i,ooo to 
1,500 a day. 

Yet two more months passed, and the 
allies were still outside. Neither Pelis- 
sier, with his strong and masterful spirit, 
nor Sir James Simpson, Lord Raglan's 
successor — a much poorer creature — 
was disposed to risk failure again by 
another premature or ill-considered at- 
tack; and while they waited to make 
all sure, the enemy took his fate in both 
hands, and sought to relieve the nearly 
ruined fortress by one last great counter- 
stroke. 

The battle of the Tchernaya, or of 
Tractir Bridge, fought on the 15 th of 



August, was a despairing but most vig- 
orous attack upon the French right 
flank, where the newly arrived Italian 
— or, more exactly, Sardinian — allies 
were also posted. Thirty thousand 
Russians, under Generals Read and 
Liprandi, with a reserve of 19,000 more 
infantry, the whole supported by cav- 
alry and a numerous artillery, came on 
at daylight, but attacked too soon the 
heights held strongly by the French, and 
were driven back with great slaughter. 
The Sardinians also fought well, and 
some horse artillery also took part in 
the fight. 

Hope Abandoned. 

The outcome still tarried, but all 
hope of holding Sebastopol was at an 
end. Since the commencement of the 
Crimean campaign the Russians had 
lost many thousands of men in the 
fortress and in the field, and their con- 
dition was nearly desperate. Prepara- 
tions to evacuate the city were at last be- 
gun — the great bridge of retreat across 
the harbor, barricades and obstacles in 
the streets and approaches. Yet Prince 
GortschakofF still hesitated, and wished 
at the eleventh hour to prolong the de- 
fence in spite of the tremendous sacri- 
fice it would entail. 

But now, at last, opportunity was 
ripe ; the French most advanced trench 
was within five-and-twenty yards of the 
Malakoff, and the hour of attack was at 
hand. 

Once more, and for the last time, the 
guns re-opened fire and blazed away 
incessantly on the 6th and 7th of Sep- 
tember, doing, as usual, infinite injury; 
but in the early morning of the 8tli the 
Russians stood ready, their reserves in 
hand, their guns loaded with grape. It 



INKERMAN AND THE MAEAKOFF. 



407 



was not Pelissier's intention to attack 
the MalakofF — the principal point — be- 
fore noon. He had observed that at 
that hour the old guards were relieved 
by the new, but that the one marched 
out of the works before the others re- 
placed. 

Gallant MacMahon. 

This was the plan which the French 
general hugged so closely to his heart 
that, as he himself put it, he would not 
whisper it to his pillow. The general 
control of the attack was placed under 
Bosquet, but the actual assault of the 
Malakoff was entrusted to MacMahon, 
that fine soldier who, years later, be- 
came President of the French Republic. 
Other troops filled in the line towards 
the Redan, where the English, under 
General Windham, were to come into 
play; but theirs was essentially an in- 
ferior and subsidiary role, for under no 
circumstances should they have attacked 
the Redan alone. Further subordinate 
moves were to be made by the French 
on Flagstaff Bastion, while the Central 
Bastion was to be dealt with by the 
Sardinians. 

At noon exactly, MacMahon's first 
brigade crossed the open at a run, and 
found the Malakoff nearly empty; but 
then the Russian relief came up, and 
a fierce hand-to-hand struggle began. 
Every traverse, every coign of vantage, 
was taken and retaken, the Russians 
fighting with desperate courage ; and it 
was not until the French had broken 
into the work by its eastern face that 
victory inclined to their side. Still, the 
conflict was maintained until late in 
the afternoon, the Russians bringing 
up every reserve, but all to no purpose, 



and finally the tricolor waved over the 
Malakoff. The key to the fortress was 
won. 

Elsewhere fate had been adverse. The 
French columns on the left of the prin- 
cipal attack had not greatly prospered, 
while the English at the Redan had dis- 
tinctly failed. No doubt they were more 
or less doomed to failure from the first; 
for the Russians retiring from the Mal- 
akoff, swarmed into the Redan and soon 
filled it with vast numbers, while the 
English assailants at best were few. 
Yet they went up undaunted; many 
boldly climbed over the huge parapet, 
and for some time maintained a firm 
front inside. 

Fall of the Citadel. 

Unfortunately, support in suflicient 
strength was not promptly sent for- 
ward, and General Windham went back 
in search of them. This ill-advised step 
left the combatants, already hardly 
pressed, without the guidance of any 
leader of rank, and the unequal contest 
was not long maintained. Had the 
French, it is said, turned the Russian 
guns they had captured in the Mala- 
koff on to the Redan, that work would 
have been quite untenable, so that its 
assault — except, perhaps, as a feint — 
was really unnecessary. 

Thus Sebastopol, or its principal 
part — smoking ruins and an empty shell 
— fell at last to the allied forces of 
French and English. Probably the 
assault upon the Malakoff, if it had not 
been successful, would not have been 
renewed ; for everybody agreed that if 
the fortress was not taken before the 
second winter arrived, it would have 
been necessary to raise the siege. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Overthrow of the French Empire at Sedan. 




AR between France and Ger- 
many had been declared on 
19th July, 1870; and as early 
as August 2nd — so swiftly had been 
accomplished the work of mobilizing 
the hosts of the Fatherland as the 
" Watch on the Rhine "—King William 
of Prussia, now in his seventieth year, 
took command of the united German 
armies at Mayence. 

These armies were three in number — 
the First, on the right, consisting of 
60,000 men, commanded by General 
Steinmetz ; the Second, in the centre, 
194,000 strong, under the " Red Prince" 
(Frederick Charles); and the Third, on 
the left, 130,000, led by the Crown 
Prince of Prussia. An additional 100,- 
000 men, still at the disposal of any of 
these three hosts, brought up the Ger- 
man field-army to a figure of 484,000. 

Altogether, Germany now had under 
arms no fewer than 1,183,389 men, with 
250,373 horses ! Many of these, how- 
ever, had to remain behind in the 
Fatherland itself to man the fortresses 
and maintain communication with the 
front ; while others belonged to the cat- 
egory of supplementary troops, or re- 
serves, held ready to supply the gaps 
made in the fighting field-army of nearly 
half a million men, as above. 

The corresponding field array of the 
French was considerably inferior in 
point of numbers (336,500), equipment, 
organization, and discipline — in all re- 
spects, in fact, save that of the chasse- 
408 



pot rifle, which was decidedly superioi 
to the German needle-gun. The French, 
too, had a large number of mitrailleuses, 
or machine-guns, which ground out tlie 
bullets at what they deemed would be 
a terribly murderous rate. But these 
instruments of wholesale massacre did 
not, in the end, come up to the French 
expectation of them ; while, on the 
other hand, the Prussian field-artillery 
proved itself to be far superior in all 
respects to that of the French. 

Finally, the Germans had a plan ; the 
French had none. Profound forethought 
was stamped on everything the Ger- 
mans did ; but, on the other hand, it 
was stamped on scarcely one single act 
of their enemies. The Germans had at 
their head a man of design, while the 
corresponding director of the French 
was only a " Man of Destiny." 

The first serious battle was fought on 
the 4th August at Wissemburg, when 
the Crown Prince fell upon the French 
and smote them hip and thigh, follow- 
ing up this victory, on the 6th, at 
Worth, when he again assaulted and 
tumbled back the overweening hosts of 
MacMahon in hideous ruin, partly on 
Strasburg, partly on Chalons. On this 
same day Steinmetz, on the right, car- 
ried the Spicheren Heights with terrific 
carnage, and all but annihilated Fros- 
sard's Corps. 

It was now the turn of the " Red 
Prince," in the centre, to strike in; and 
this he did on the i6th, with glorious 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE- 



40& 



success, at Mars-la-Tour, when, against 
fivefold odds, he hnng on to Marshal 
Bazaine's army and thwarted it in its 
attempt to escape from Metz. Two 
days later, the i8th, on very nearly the 
same ground, there was fought the 
bloodiest battle of all the war, that of 
Gravelotte-St. Privat — which resulted 
in the hurling back of Bazaine into 
Metz, there to be cooped up and belea- 
guered by Prince Frederick Charles and 
forced to capitulate within a couple of 
months. 

The Crisis Near. 

Moltke's immediate object was now 
to dispose of MacMahon, who had 
retired on Chalons— thence either to fall 
back on Paris, or march by a circuitous 
route to the relief of Bazaine. Which 
course he meant to adopt the German 
leaders did not as yet know, though it 
was of life-and-death importance that 
they should find out with the least pos- 
sible delay. Meanwhile the Crown 
Prince of Prussia with the Third Army 
continued his pursuit of MacMahon, as if 
towards Chalons ; and with him co- 
operated the Crown Prince of Saxony 
at the head of a Fourth Army (of the 
Meuse), which had now been created 
out of such of the "Red Prince's" 
forces (First and Second Armies) as 
were not required for the investment of 
Metz. 

For several days the pursuing Ger- 
mans continued their rapid march to 
the west, but on the 25th, word reached 
Moltke, the real directing head of the 
campaign, that McMahon in hot haste 
had evacuated the camp at Chalons, 
and marched to the north-west on 
Rheims, with the apparent intention of 
doubling back on Metz. Meanwhile, 



until his intention should become un- 
mistakably plain, the German leaders 
did no more than give a right half-front 
direction to the enormous host of about 
200,000 men, which, on an irregular 
frontage of nearly fifty miles, was 
sweeping forward to the west, Paris- 
wards. 

For three more days this altered 
movement was continued, and then 
" Right-hand wheel ! " again resounded 
all along the enormous line, tliere being 
now executed by the German armies 
one of the grandest feats of strategical 
combination that had ever been per- 
formed. The German cavalry had al- 
ready done wonders of scouting, but it 
was believed that Moltke's knowledge 
of the altered movements of MacMahon 
was now mainly derived from Paris 
telegrams to a London newspaper, 
which were promptly re-communicated, 
by way of Berlin, to the German head- 
quarters — a proof of how the revelations 
of the war-correspondent — whom Lord 
Woolsey once denounced as the " curse 
of modern armies" — may sometimes 
affect the whole course of a campaign. 

On the Double Quick. 

Not long was it now before the heads 
of the German columns were within 
striking distance of MacMahon, who 
was hastening eastward to cross the 
Meuse in the direction of Metz ; but 
his movement became ever more flurried 
in proportion to the swiftness where- 
with the Germans deployed their armies 
on a frontage parallel to his flank line 
of march. Alternately obeying his 
own military instincts and the political 
orders from Paris, MacMahon dodged 
and doubled in the basin of the Meuse 
like a breathless and bewildered hare. 



410 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



On t.he 30th of August an action at 
Beaumont proved to the French the 
dtter hopelessness of their attempting 
to pursue their Metz-ward march. As 
^he battle 0/ Mars-la-Tour had com- 




WILLIAM I. — EMPEROR OF GERMANY. 

pelled Bazaine to reliiiquish his plan of 
reaching Verden and to fight for his 
life with his back to Metz, so the victory 
of Beaumont proved to MacMahon that 
his only resource left was to abandon 
the attempt to reach the virgin fortress 
on the Moselle, and concentrate his de- 
moralized and rabble army around the 
frontier stronghold of Sedan. 

As Sedan had been the birthplace of 
one of the greatest of French marshals, 



Turenne, who had unrighteously seized 
Strasburg and the left bank of the 
Rhine for France, and been the scourge 
of Germany, it was peculiarly fitting 
that it should now become the scene of 
the battle which wa« 
to restore Alsace-Lor- 
raine to the Father- 
land, and destroy the 
Continental supremacy 
of the Gauls. 

Standing on the 
right bank of the 
Meuse, in a projecting 
angle between lyUxem- 
burg and Belgian ter- 
ritory, the fortressed 
old town of Sedan is 
surrounded by mea- 
dows, gardens, culti- 
vated fields, ravines, 
and wet-ditches ; while 
the citadel, or castle, 
rises on a cliflf-like 
eminence to the south- 
west of the place. 
Away in the distance 
towards the Belgian 
frontier stretch the 
Ardennes — that ver- 
dant forest of Arden 
in which Touchstone 
jested and Orlando 
loved, but which was now to become 
the scene of a great tragedy — of one of 
the most crushing disasters that ever 
befell a mighty nation. 

In retiring on Sedan, MacMahon had 
not intended to ofier battle there, but 
simply to give his troops a short rest, 
of which they stood so much in need, 
and provide them with food and am- 
munition. These troops were worn out 
with their eflforts by day and night and 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



411 



continuous rain ; while their apparently- 
aimless marching to and fro had under- 
mined their confidence in their leaders, 
and a series of defeats had shaken their 
own self-trust. Thousands of fugitives, 
crying for bread, crowded round the 
wagons as they made their way to the 
little fortress which had thus so sud- 
denly become the goal of -a vast army. 

Mouse in the Trap. 

On the 31st of August, after making 
all his strategic preparations, and tak- 
ing a general survey of the situation, 
Moltke quietly remarked with a 
chuckle : " The trap is now closed, 
and the mouse is in it." That night 
headquarters were at Vendresse, a town- 
let about fourteen miles to the south of 
Sedan ; and early on the morning of 
the 1st of September, King William 
and his brilliant suite of generals, 
princes, and foreign officers were up 
and away to the hill-slope of Fresnois, 
which commands a view of the town 
and valley of Sedan as a box on the 
grand tiers of an opera does that of the 
stage. Bismarck, Moltke, and Roon — 
the king's mighty men of wisdom and 
valor — were also in his majesty's suite. 
"Why," remarked a Prussian -soldier 
on seeing this brilliant assemblage take 
up its position on the brow of the hill 
and produce its field-glasses, "why, all 
this is just the same as at our autumn 
manoeuvres ! " 

The morning had broken in a thick 
fog, under cover of which the Germans 
had marched up to their various posi- 
tions, some of the columns having 
moved off at midnight ; and by the 
time King William had taken his stand 
on the Fresnois height, a little to the 
east of where his son, the Crown Prince, 



had similarly posted himself in order to 
direct the movements of the Third 
Army, the hot September sun had 
raised the curtain of the mist and dis- 
closed the progress which had already 
been made by the stupendous battle 
drama. 

This had been opened by the Bava- 
rians, under Von der Tann, who, cross- 
ing the Meuse on pontoons, advanced 
to attack the village of Bazeilles, a sub- 
urb of Sedan, outside the fortifications 
on the south-east. The Bavarians had 
already shelled this suburb on the pre- 
vious evening so severely that pillars 
of flame and smoke shot up into the 
air during the night. In no other battle 
of the war was such fighting ferocity 
shown as in this hand-to-hand struggle 
for Bazeilles. For the Bavarians were 
met with such stubborn resistance on 
the part of the French marine infantry 
posted there, that they were twice com- 
pelled to abandon their hold on that 
place by vehement counter-assaults. 

Women in the Fight. 

The inhabitants of the village, too— 
women as well as men — joined in its 
defence by firing out of the houses and 
cellars on the Bavarians as they pressed 
onward, and by perpetrating most re- 
volting barbarities on the wounded 
Germans left behind when their com- 
rades had repeatedly to retreat. The 
Bavarians, on their part, were so dread- 
fully embittered and enraged by these 
things that they gave no quarter, act- , 
ingwith relentless rigor towards all the 
inhabitants found with arms in their 
hands or caught in the act of inflicting 
cruelties on the wounded. 

The struggle for the village became 
one of mutual annihilation. House by 



412 



OVERTHROVV Ot THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



house and street by street had to be 
stormed and taken by the Bavarians, 
and the only way of ejecting the enemy 
from some of these massively built and 



away in the streets it was continued 
with equal desperation in the adjacent 
gardens on the north, where the Frencli 
made a fresh stand, defending their 



strongly garrisoned buildings was by [ ground with the most admirable valor. 

Bazeilles was certainly the 
scene of some of the most shock- 
ing atrocities which had been 
perpetrated by European soldiers 
since the sie_ge and sack of Bada- 
joz by the victorious troops of 
Wellington, and the storming of 
Lucknow by the infuriated High- 
landers of Sir Colin Campbell. 
But it must be remembered that 
in all three cases the blood of the 
assailants had been roused to 
almost tiger-heat by barbarous 
provocation from the other side. 
Simultaneously with the san 
guinary struggle for Bazeilles^ 
the battle had also been de^'^el- 
oping at other points. Advanc- 
ing ou the right of the Bavari- 
ans the Crown Prince of Saxony 
— afterwards King Albert — 
pushed forward towards Givonne 
with intent to complete the en- 
vironment of the French on this 
side. In order to facilitate theii 
marching, the Saxon soldiers had 
been ordered to lay aside their knapsacks, 
and by great efforts they succeeded in 
reaching their appointed section of the 
ring of investment early in the day, tak 
ing the enemy completely by surprise, 
and hurling them back in confusion both 
at La Moncelleand Daigny. At the lat- 
ter place the French, soon after 7 A. m., 
made two offensive sallies with their 
renowned Zouaves and dreaded Turcos 
belonging to the ist Corps, but were 
beaten back by a crushing artillery and 
needle-gun fire. 




NAPOLEON III. — EMPEROR OF FRANCE. 

employing pioneers to breach the walls 
in the rear or from the side streets and 
throw in lighted torches. Notwith- 
standing all the desperate bravery of 
the Bavarians, the battle fluctuated for 
nearly six hours in the streets of Baze- 
illes, fresh troops, or freshly rallied 
ones, being constantly thrown by both 
sides into the seething- fight. It was not 
till abort 10 a. m. that tlie Bavaria»is 
had acquired full possession of the 
villa-"-'" itseif — now reduced to mere 
*c<ans of ruins : but as the combat died 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



4V6 



For some time the scales of battle 
hung uncertain on this portion of the 
field, but reinforcements coming up to 
the Saxons, the latter made an impetu- 
ous push across the valley, capturing 
three guns and three mitrailleuses from 
the French after half an hour's street- 
fighting in the village (Daigny), which 
was now finally wrested from the en- 
emy. Soon after this the Saxon right 
was rendered secure by the advance of 
the Prussian guards, under Prince Au- 
gust of Wurtemburg, who had made a 
wide detour to reach their objective, 
Givonne. 

The French Scattered. 

A considerable body of French cav- 
alry and numerous trains were seen by 
the Guards on the opposite side of the 
valley. These offered the corps artillery 
of the Guards an immediate target for 
its fire ; and scarcely had the first shells 
fallen among the French columns when 
the entire mass scattered in all direc- 
tions in the greatest confusion, leaving 
everywhere traces of a complete panic. 
The cavalry of the Guard was sent by a 
detour to the right, to bar the road to 
Belgium, and also establish touch with 
the Crown Prince's (Third) army, which 
had been pushed round on the German 
left. 

At Givonne the Guards, at a great 
loss, stormed and captured seven guns 
and three mitrailleuses, whose gunners 
were all killed or made prisoners. Beat- 
en out of Daigny and Givonne, the 
French hereabouts fled in a disorderly 
crowd into the woods, or fell back upon 
the centre, which they incommoded and 
discouraged by their precipitate appear- 
ance on a part of the field where they 
were not wanted. Shortly after, the 



junction between the Prussian Guaras 
and the Crown Prince was accom- 
plished, and the ring was now complete. 
Successes equal to those at Daigny 
and Givonne were obtained by the Ger- 
mans in other directions, and the French 
centre began to recede, though the con- 
test was still prolonged with desperate 
tenacity, the French fiercely disputing 
every hill-slope and point of vantage, 
and inflicting as well as sustaining tre- 
mendous losses. 

Stubborn Resistance. 

Meanwhile the French right had been 
hotly engaged. A railway bridge which 
crosses the Meuse near Le Dancourt hatl 
been broken down by Macj\Iahon, but 
in the early morning the Crown Prince 
had thrown some of his troops across the 
river on pontoons, and was thus enabled 
to plant his batteries on the crest of a 
hill which overlooks Floing and the 
surrounding country. The French, sud- 
denly attacked in the rear, were more 
than astonished at the position in which 
thev now found themselves ; but front- 
ing up towards their assailants with all 
their available strength, they main- 
tained a prolonged resistance. 

Their musketry fire was poured in 
with such deadliness and determination, 
that it was heard even above the deeper 
notes of the mitrailleuse, now playing 
with terrible effect on the Germans. 
General Sheridan said he had never 
heard so well-sustained and long-contin- 
ued a small-arm fire. 

By noon, however, the Prussian bat- 
tery on the slope above the broken 
bridge over the Meuse, above La Vil- 
ette, had silenced two French batteries 
near Floing, and now the enemy were 
compelled to retire from the positioi. 



4i4 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



About half-past twelve large numbers 
of retreating French were seen on the 
hill between Floing and Sedan, their 
ranks shelled by a Prussian battery in 
front of St. Menges. 

Pierce Assaults. 

The Germans now advanced and 
seized Floing in the valley, holding it 
against all attempts to dislodge them ; 
but it still remained for them to scale 
the heights beyond, from the entrenched 
slopes and vineyards of which they were 
exposed to a murderous fire. Here the 
French had all the advantages of posi- 
tion, and the Germans could make but 
little headway in spite of their repeated 
efforts, so that at this point the battle 
came to something like a standstill for 
nearly an hour and a half, the time 
being consumed in assaults and counter- 
assaults. 

At last, on receiving reinforcements, 
which brought up their strength in this 
portion of the field to seventeen battal- 
ions, the Germans once more advanced 
to the attack, and the French saw that 
something desperate must be done if 
their position was to be saved. Hith- 
erto the French cavalry had done little 
or nothing, but now was their chance. 
Emerging from the Bois de la Garenne 
at the head of the 4th Reserve Cavalry 
Division, consisting of four Scots-Grey- 
Jooking regiments of Chasseurs d'Af- 
rique and two regiments of Lancers, 
General Marguerite prepared to charge 
down upon the Germans. But he him- 
self was severely wounded before his 
imposing mass of picturesque horsemen 
had fairly got in motion, and then the 
command devolved on General Gallifet, 
one of the bravest and most brilliant cav- 
alry officers in all France — in all Europe. 



Placing himself at the head of his 
magnificent array of horsemen, Gallifet 
now launched them against the seven- 
teen battalions of the Germans. Thun- 
dering down the slope, the shining 
squadrons broke through the line of 
skirmishers scattering them like chaff. 
But then, in the further pursuit of their 
stormful career, they were received by 
the deployed battalions in front and 
flank with such a murderous fire of 
musketry, supplemented by hurricanes 
of grape-shot from the batteries, as 
made them reel and roll to the ground 
— man and horse — in struggling, con- 
vulsive heaps. Nowhere throughout 
the war was the terrible pageantry of 
battle so picturesquely displayed as now 
on these sacrificial slopes of Sedan, 
when the finest and fairest chivalry of 
France was broken and shivered by 
bullet and bayonet as a furious wave is 
shattered into spray by an opposing rock. 

A Field of Slaughter. 

Supported by Bonnemain's division 
of four Cuirassier regiments, "these at- 
tacks," wrote Moltke, "were repeated 
by the French again and again, and 
the murderous turmoil lasted for half 
an hour, with steadily diminishing suc- 
cess for the French. The infantry vol- 
leys fired at short range strewed the 
whole field with dead and wounded. 
Many fell into the quarries or over the 
steep precipices, a few may have escaped 
by swimming the Meuse, and scarcely 
more than half of these brave troops 
were left to return to the protection of 
the fortress." 

The scene was well described by an 
eye-witness, Mr. Archibald Forbes: — 
"At a gallop through the ragged in- 
tervals in the confused masses of the in- 



OVERTHROW 01^ THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



^6 



fatitry came dashing the Chasseurs 
d'Afrique. The squadrons halted, 
fronted, and then wheeled into line, at 
a pace and with a regularity which 
would have done them credit in the 
Champ de Mars, and did them double 
credit executed as was the evolution 
under a warm fire. That fire, as one 
could tell by the dying away of the 
smoke-jets, ceased all of a sudden, as if 
the trumpets which rang out the 
■ Charge!' for the Chasseurs had sounded 
also the 'Cease firing!' for the German 
artillery and infantry. Not a needle- 
gun gave fire as the splendid horsemen 
crashed down the gentle slope with the 
velocity of an avalanche. 

Grand Cavalry Charge> 
" I have seen not a few cavalry 
charges, but I never saw a finer one, 
whether from a spectator's or an adju- 
tant's point of view, than this one of 
the Chasseurs d'Afrique. It was des- 
tined to a sudden arrestment, and that 
without the ceremony of the trumpets 
sounding the 'Halt.' The horsemen 
and the footmen might have seen the 
color of each others' moustaches (to 
use Havelock's favorite phrase), when 
along the line of the latter there flashed 
out a sudden, simultaneous streak of fire. 
" Like thunder-claps sounding over 
the din of a hurricane, rose the mea- 
sured crash of the battery guns, and 
ihe cloud of white smoke drifted away 
towards the Chasseurs, enveloping them 
for the moment from one's sight. When 
it blew away, there was visible a line 
of bright uniforms and grey horses 
struggling prostrate among the potato 
drills, or lying still in death. Only a 
handful of all the gallant show of five 
minutes before were galloping back- 



ward up the slope, le^.ving tokens at 
intervals of their prepress as they re- 
treated. So thorough j. destruction by 
what may be called a single volley pro-^ 
bably the oldest soldier now alive never 
witnessed." 

The French Hurled Back. 

The French had played their last 
card. They had endeavored to give 
the tide of battle a favorable turn by 
sacrificing their cavalry, but in vain. 
The Germans now stormed and captured 
the heights of Floing and Cazal, and 
from this time the battle became little 
more than a mere farce. The French 
were thoroughly disheartened, and ra^ 
pidly becoming an undisciplined rabble. 
Hundreds and thousands of them al- 
lowed themselves to be taken prisoners; 
ammunition-wagons were exploding in 
their midst, while the German artillery 
were ever contracting their murderous 
fire, and walls of bayonets closed every 
issue. The fugitive troopers, rushing 
about in search of cover, increased the 
frightful confusion which began to pre- 
vail throughout the circumscribed space 
in which the French army had been 
cooped up. 

Still, from the German point of view, 
a decisive blow was imperative, so that 
the results of the mighty battle might 
be secured without a doubt. With this 
in view, the Prussian Guards and the 
Saxons from Givonne quarter were 
launched against the Bois de laGarenne, 
which had become the last refuge of 
the battered and broken French; and 
these were soon driven back from every 
point, with the loss of many guns and 
prisoners — back on the fortress of Se- 
dan in wild turmoil and disorganized 
flight. 



^16 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE, 



It is to the inside of this fortress that 
the scene must now change, in order 
that we may pick up and follow what 
may be called the personal thread of 
the great battle-drama, of which we 
have but given the leading episodes. 
For it is only at this point that the bat- 
tle-drama began to enter its most inter- 
esting, because most surprising phase. 

Brave Marshal Wounded. 

Marshal MacMahon, the French com- 
mander-in-chief, had been in the saddle 
as early as 5 a. m. When riding along 
the high ground above La Moncelle he 
was severely wounded in the thigh by 
the fragment of a shell, and then he 
nominated Ducrot his successor in com- 
mand. By 8 o'clock the latter was ex- 
ercising this command, in virtue of 
which he had ordered a retreat west- 
ward to Mezieres ; but presently he was 
superseded by General de Wimpffen, 
who had but just arrived from Algeria, 
and who hastened to countermand the 
retreat on Mezieres in favor of an at- 
tempt to break out in the opposite di- 
rection towards Carignan, This chaos 
of commanders and confusion of plans 
proved fatal to the distracted French, 
who now began to see that there was 
no hope for them. 

When riding out in the direction of 
the hardest fighting, Napoleon had 
met the wounded Marshal being brought 
in on a stretcher. The unfortunate 
Emperor mooned about the field for 
hours under fire, but he had no influ- 
ence whatever on the conduct of the 
battle. He had already almost ceased 
to be Emperor in the eyes of his gen- 
erals, and even of his soldiers. De 
Wimpffen sent a letter begging his im- 
perial master *' to place himself in the 



midst of his troops, who could be relied 
on to force a passage through the Ger- 
man lines;" but to this exhortation his 
Majesty vouchsafed no reply. 

White Flag Goes Up. 

Eventually he returned into the town 
and, already showing the white feather, 
gave orders for the hoisting of the white 
flag. Up flew this white flag as a re- 
quest to the Germans to suspend their 
infernal fire ; but this signal of distress 
had not long fluttered aloft when it was 
indignantly cut down by General Faure, 
chief-of-staflf to the wounded MacMa- 
hon, acting on his own responsibility 
alone. For some time longer the use- 
less slaughter went on, and then Na- 
poleon made another attempt to sue for 
mercy. 

" Why does this useless struggle go 
on?" he said to Lebrun, who entered 
the presence of his Majesty shortly be- 
fore 3 P. M. "An hour ago or more I 
bade the white flag be displaved in order 
to sue for an armistice '* 

Lebrun explained that, in addition to 
the flying of the white flag, there were 
other formalities to be observed in such 
a case — the signing of a letter by the 
commander-in-chief, and the sending of 
it by an officer accompanied by a trum- 
peter and a flag of truce. 

These things being seen to, Lebrun 
now repaired to where Wimpffen was 
rallying some troops for an assault on 
the Germans in Balan, near Bazeilles; 
and on seeing Lebrun approach with all 
his paraphernalia for a parley, the angry 
commander-in-chief shouted: "No ca- 
pitulation ! Drop that rag ! I mean to 
fight on !" and forthwith he started for 
Balan, carrying Lebruu with him into 
the fray. ., -. - -- ^ . ^ 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



417 



Meanwhile Ducrot, who had been 
fighting hard about the Bois de la Ga- 
renne, in the desperate attempt to retard 
the contraction of the German circle of 
fire and steel, resolved about this time 
to pass through Se- 
dan and join in Wim- 
piSfen's proposed at- 
tempt to cut a way 
out towards Carig- 
nan. .What he saw 
in the interior of the 
town may be de- 
scribed almost in his 
own words. 

The streets, the 
open places, the gates 
were blocked up by 
wagons, guns, and 
the luggage and de- 
bris of a routed army. 
Bands of soldiers 
without arms, with- 
out packs, were rush- 
ing about, throwing 
themselves into the 
churches or breaking 
into private houses. 
Many unfortunate 
men were trampled 
under foot. The few 
soldiers who still pre- 
served a remnant of 
energy seemed to be 
expending it in ac- 
cusations and curses. 
"We have been be- 
trayed," they cried ; 
sold by traitors and cowards." 

Nothing could be done with such 
men, and Ducrot, desisting from his in- 
tention to join De Wimpffen, hastened 
to seek out the Emperor. The air was 
all on fire; shells fell on roofs, andstruck 



masses of masonry, which crushed down 
on the pavements. " I cannot under- 
stand," said the Emperor, "why the 
enemy continues his fire. I have or- 
dered the white flag to be hoisted. I 




MARSHAL MACMAHON— FRENCH COMMANDER AT THE 
BATTLE OF SEDAN. 



we have been 



hope to obtain an interview with the 
King of Prussia, and may succeed in 
ofettinsf advantageous terms for the 
army." 

While the Emperor and Ducrot were 
thus conversing, the German cannon- 
ad'" increased in deadly violence. Fires 



418 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



burst out ; women, children and wound- 
ed were destroyed, and the air was 
filled with shrieks, curses and groans. 

"It is absolutely necessary to stop 
this firing," at last exclaimed the Em- 
peror, in a state of pallid perturbation. 
" Here, write this: 'The flag of truce 
having been displayed, negotiations are 
about to be opened with the enemy. 
The firing must cease all along the 
line.' Now sign it!" 

" Oh, no, sire," replied Ducrot ; " I 
cannot sign. By what right could I do 
so ? General Wimpfien is in chief com- 
mand." 

''Yes," rejoined the Emperor; but I 
know not where General Wimp- 
ffen is to be found. Someone must 
sign !" 

"Let his chief-of-staff do so," sug- 
gested Ducrot ; " or General Douay." 

"Yes," said the Emperor; "let the 
chief-of-staff sign the order." 

Disgraceful Altercation. 
But what became of this order is noi 
exactly known. All that is known is, 
that the brave Wimpffen scorned even to 
open the Emperor's letter, calling upon 
his Majesty instead to come and help 
in cutting a way out ; that the Emperor 
did not respond to this appeal ; that 
Wimpffen, failing in his gallant attempt 
on Balan for want of proper support, 
then retired to Sedan, and indignantly 
sent in his resignation to the Emperor ; 
that then, in the presence of his Majesty, 
there was a scene of violent altercation 
between Wimpffen and Ducrot, in the 
course of which it was believed that 
blows were actually exchanged ; and 
that finally Napoleon brought Wim- 
pffen to understand that, having com- 
manded during the battle it was his 



duty not to desert his post in circum- 
stances so critical. 

Furious Artillery Fire. 

Let the scene now again shift to the 
hill-top of Fresnois, where King Wil- 
liam and his suite were viewing, as 
from the dress-circle of a theatre, the 
course of the awful battle-drama in the 
town and valley below. The first white 
flag run up by order of Napoleon had 
not been noticed by the Germans, 
and thinking thus that the French 
meant to fight it out to the bitter end, 
the King, between 4 and 5 p. M., ordered 
the whole available artillery to concen- 
trate a crushing fire on Sedan, crowded 
as it was with fugitives and troops, so 
as to bring the enemy to their senses as 
soon as possible, no matter by what 
amount of carnage, while at the same 
time, under cover of this cannonade, 
a Bavarian force prepared to storm the 
Torcy Gate. 

The batteries opened fire with fearful 
effect, and in a short time Sedan seemed 
to be in flames. This was the cannon- 
ade which had burst out during the 
Emperor's conversation with Ducrot, 
making his Majesty once more give 
orders for the hoisting of the white 
flag ; and no sooner was it at length 
seen flying from the citadel than the 
German fire at once ceased, when the 
King despatched Colonel Bronsart von 
Schellendorff, of his staff, to ride down 
into Sedan under a flag of truce and 
summon the garrison to surrender. 

Penetrating into the town, and ask- 
ing for the commander-in-chief, this 
ofiicer, to his utter astonishment, was 
led into the presence of Napoleon ! 

For the Germans had not yet the 
faintest idea that the Emperor was in 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



419 



Sedan. Just as Colonel Bronsart was 
starting off, General Sheridan, of the 
United States Army, who was attached 
to the royal headquarters, remarked to 
Bismarck that Napoleon himself would 
likely be one of the prizes. 
"Oh, no," replied the Iron 
Chancellor, "the old fox 
is too cunning to be caught 
in such a trap ; he has 
doubtless slipped off to 
Paris." 

What, then, was the sur- 
prise of all when Colonel 
Bronsart galloped back to 
the hill-slope of Fresnois 
with the astounding news 
that the Emperor himself 
was in the fortress, and 
would himself at once com- 
municate direct with the 
King ! 

This Colonel Bronsart 
was a man of French ex- 
traction, being descended 
(like so many in Prussia) 
from one of those Hugue- 
not families who had been 
driven into exile by the 
cruel despotism of Louis 
XIV. And now — strange Nemesis of his- 
tory — to the lineal representative of a 
victim of this tyranny was given the 
satisfaction of demanding, on behalf of 
his royal Prussian master, the sword 
of the historical successor in French 
despotism to Louis XIV. 

The effect on the field of battle, as 
the fact of a surrender became obvious 
to the troops, was most extraordinary. 
The opening of one of the gates of 
Sedan to permit the exit of the officer 
bearing the flag of truce gave the first 



tion. This gradually gained strength 
until it acquired all the force of actual 
knowledge, and ringing cheers ran 
along the whole German line of battle. 
Shakoes, helmets, bayonets, and sa- 




-mpression of an approaching capitula 



COUNT VON MOLTKB— COMMANDER OP THB GER- 
MAN ARMY AT SEDAN. 

bres were raised high in the air, an<J 
the vast army swayed to and fro in 
the excitement of an unequalled tri- 
umph. Even the dying shared in th? 
general enthusiasm. One huge Prus- 
sian, who had been lying with his hand 
to his side in mortal agony, suddenly 
rose to his feet as he comprehended the 
meaning of the cries, uttered a loud 
" Hurrah ! " waved his hands on high, 
and then, as the blood rushed from his 
wound, fell dead across a Frenchman. 

On Bronsart returning to the King 
with his ftiomentous message, murmur 



420 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



ed cries of " Der Kaiser ist da! ' ' 

(the Kaiser is there) ran through the 
brilliant gathering, and then there was 
a moment of dumbfounded silence. 

"This is, indeed, a great success," 
then said the King to his retinue. 
*' And I thank thee" (turning to the 
Crown Prince) "that thou hast helped 
to achieve it." 

A Sealed Letter. 

With that the King gave his hand to 
his son, who kissed it ; then to Moltke, 
who kissed it also. Lastly, he gave his 
hand to the Chancellor, and talked with 
him for some time alone. Presently 
several other horsemen — some escort- 
ing-troopers — were seen ascending the 
hill. The chief of them was General 
Reille, the bearer of Napoleon's flag of 
truce. 

Dismounting about ten paces from 
the King, Reille, who wore no sword 
and carried a cane in his hand, ap- 
proached his Majesty with most humble 
reverence, and presented hiir. with a 
sealed letter. 

All stepped back from the King, 
who, after saying, "But I demand, as 
the first condition, that the army lay 
down their arms,'' broke the seal and 
read : 

" Monsieur, my Brother, — Not 
having been able to die in the midst of 
my troops, it only remains for me to 
;p(ace my sword in the hands of your 
Majesty. I am your Majesty's good bro- 
*Jier. "Napoleon." 

''Sedan, ist September." 

Certainly it seemed that the Emperor 
^ight have tried very much harder 
'han he had done to die in the midst 
of his troops, but his own he^'"' was 
his best judg^e in this respect 



On reading this imperial letter, the 
King, as well he might, was deeply 
moved. His first impulse, as was his 
pious wont, was to offer thanks to God ; 
and then, turning to the silent and 
gazing group behind him, he told them 
the contents of the imperial captive's 
letter. 

The Crown Prince with Moltke and 
others talked a little with General Reille, 
whilst the King conferred with his 
Chancellor, who then commissioned 
Count Hartzfeldt to draft an answer to 
the Emperor's missive. 

William to Napoleon. 

In a few minutes it was ready, and 
hib majesty wrote it out sitting on a 
rush-bottom chair, while another was 
held up to him by way of desk : 

"Monsieur, my Brother, — Whilst 
regretting the circumstances in which 
we meet, I accept your Majesty's sword, 
and beg you to appoint one of your 
ofiic«?rs, provided with full powers, to 
treat for the capitulation of the army 
which has fought so bravely under your 
command. On my part I have nomi- 
nated General Von Moltke for this pur- 
pose. I am your Majesty's good bro- 
ther, "WiLUAM." 
"Before Sedan, ist September, 1870.'' 

While the King was writing this an- 
swer, Bismarck held a conversation 
with General Reille, who represented 
to the Chancellor that hard conditions 
ought not to be imposed on an army 
which had fought so well. 

"I shrugged my shoulders," said 
Bismarck. 

Reille rejoined that, before accepting 
such conditions, they would blow them- 
selves up skyhigh with the fortress. 

" Do it, if you like; faites sauter^'^ 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



421 



replied Bismarck ; and the King's reply 
was now handed to the envoy of the 
captured Emperor. 

The twilight was beginning to de.epen 
when General Reille rode back to 
Sedan, but his way was lighted by the 
lurid gleam of the conflagrations in and 
around the fortress which crim- 
soned the evening sky. And swift 
as the upshooting flames of shell- 
struck magazine, flew all around 
the circling German lines the 
great and glorious tidings that the 
Emperor with his army were 
prisoners of war ! 

In marching and in fighting, 
the troops had performed prodigies 
of exertion and of valor, but their 
fatigues were for the time forgot- 
ten in the fierce intoxication of 
victory ; and when the stars began 
to twinkle overhead, and the hill- 
tops around Sedan to glow with 
flickering watch-fires, up then arose 
from more than a hundred thou- 
sand grateful German throats, loud 
and clear through the ethereal 
summer night, the deeply pious 
strains of '' Now thank we all our 
God ;" and then the curtain of 
darkness fell on one of the most 
tragic and momentous spectacles ever 
witnessed by this age of dramatic change 
and wonders. 

"Before going to sleep," wrote Mr. 
Archibald Forbes — the prince, if not the 
father, of war-correspondents — "I took 
a walk round the half-obliterated ram- 
joarts which surround the once fortified 
town of Donchery. The scene was very 
fine. The whole horizon was lurid with 
the reflection of fire. All along the val- 
ley of the Meuse, on either side, were 
the bivouacs of the German host. Two 



hundred thousand men lay here around 
their King. On the horizon glowed the 
flames of the burning villages, the 
flicker occasionally reflecting itself on a 
link of the placid Meuse. Over all the 
quiet moon waded through a sky cum- 
bered with wind-clouds. 




MARSHAL BAZAINE— DIVISION COMMANDER OF 
THE FRENCH ARMY. 

" What were the Germans doing on 
this their night of triumph ? Celebrat- 
ing their victory by wassail and riot? 
No. There arose from every camp one 
unanimous chorus of song, but not the 
song of ribaldry. Verily they are a 
great race these Germans — a masterful, 
fighting, praying people ; surely in many 
respects not unlike the men whom 
Cromwell led. The chant that filled the 
night air was Luther's hymn, the glori- 
ous — 

' Nun danket alle Gott/ 



122 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



the ' Old Hundredth ' of Germany. To 
hear this great martial orchestra singing 
this noble hymn under such circum- 
stances was alone worth a journey to 
Sedan, with all its vicissitudes and diffi- 
culties." 

Of the 200,000 men whom the Ger- 
mans had marched up towards Sedan, 
only about 120,000 had taken actual 
part in the battle ; and of these their 
glorious victory had entailed a loss of 
460 officers and 8,500 men in killed and 
wounded. The French, on the other 
hand, had to lament the terrible loss of 
17,000 killed and wounded, and 24,000 
prisoners taken on the field (including 
3,000 who had fled over into Belgium 
and been disarmed). On the part of the 
Germans, the Bavarians and the men of 
Posen had been the heaviest sufferers. 

Loud Huzzas G-reet the King. 

On the night of the battle King Wil- 
liam returned to Vendresse, "being 
greeted," as he himself wrote, "on the 
road by the loud hurrahs of the advanc- 
ing troops, who were singing the na- 
tional hymn," and extemporizing illu- 
minations in honor of their stupendous 
victory ; while Bismarck, with Moltke, 
Blumenthal, and several other staff- 
officers, remained behind at the village 
of Donchery — a mile or two from Sedan 
— to treat for the capitulation of the 
French army. 

For this purpose an armistice had 
been concluded till four o'clock next 
morning. The chief French negotiators 
were Generals de Wimpffen and Castel- 
nau — the former for the army, the latter 
for the Emperor. 

Both pleaded very hard for a mitiga- 
tion of Moltke's brief but comprehensive 
condition — unconditional surrender of 



Sedan and all within it. But the Ger- 
man strategist was as hard and unbend- 
ing as adamant ; and when De Wimpf- 
fen, with the burning shame of a patriot 
and the grief of a brave soldier convuls- 
ing his heart, talked of resuming the 
conflict rather than submit to such 
humiliating terms, Moltke merely point- 
ed to the 500 guns that were now encir- 
cling Sedan on its ring of heights, and 
at the same time invited Wimpffen to 
send one of his officers to make a thor- 
ough inspection of the German position, 
so as to convince himself of the utter 
hopelessness of renewed resistance. 

Terms are Final. 

The negotiations lasted for several 
hours, and it was past midnight when 
the broken-hearted De Wimpffen and 
his colleagues returned to Sedan, having 
meanwhile achieved no other result than 
the prolongation of the armistice from 
4 to 9 A. M. on the 2nd September, at 
which hour to the minute, said Moltke, 
the fortress would become the target of 
half a thousand guns unless his terms 
were accepted. 

On returning to Sedan about i A. m., 
De Wimpffen at once went to the 
Emperor to make a report on the sad 
state of affairs, and beg his Majesty to 
exert his personal influence to obtain 
more favorable terms for the army. 
For this purpose Napoleon readily un- 
dertook to go to the German headquar- 
ters at 5 A. M. 

Soon after he had driven out of the 
fortress, Wimpffen called a council of 
war, consisting of all the commanding 
generals, and put the question whether 
further resistance was possible. It was 
answered in the despairing negative by 
all the thirty-two generals present, save 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



423 



only two, Pelle and Carre de Bellemare; 
while even these two in the end acqui- 
esced in the absolute necessity of accept- 
ing Moltke's terms on its being shown 
them that another attempt to break 
through the investing lines would only 
lead to useless slaughter. For in the 
course of the night the Germans had 
further tightened their iron grip on the 
fortress, and thickened the girdle of 
their guns. No ; there was clearly 
nothing left for the poor, demoralized 
French but to yield to the inevitable, 
and their only chance lay in the hope 
that the Emperor himself would be able 
to procure some mollification of their 
terrible fate. 

Notable Meeting. 

But the hope proved a vain one. 
Driving forth with several high officers 
from the fortress about 5 A. M., the 
Emperor, who was wearing white kid 
gloves and smoking his everlasting 
cigarette, sent on General Reille to 
Donchery in search of Bismarck ; and 
the latter, ' ' unwashed and unbreak- 
fasted," was soon galloping owards 
Sedan to learn the wishes of his fallen 
Majesty. 

He had not ridden far when he en- 
countered the Emperor, sitting in an 
open carriage, apparently a hired one, 
in which were also three officers of 
high rank, and as many on horseback. 
Bismarck had his revolver in his belt, 
and on the Emperor catching sight of 
this he gave a start ; but the Chancellor, 
saluting and dismounting, approached 
the Emperor with as much courtesy as 
if he had been at the Tuileries, and 
begged to know his Majesty's com- 
mands. 

Napoleon replied that he wanted to 



see the King, but Bismarck explained 
that this was impossible, his Majesty 
being quartered fourteen miles away. 
Had not the King, then, appointed any 
place for him, the Emperor, to go to? 

In a Poor Cottage. 

Bismarck knew not, but meanwhile 
his own quarters were at his Majesty's 
disposal. The Emperor accepted the 
offer, and began to drive slowly towards 
Donchery, but, hesitating on account 
of the possible crowd, stopped at a soli- 
tary cottage, that of a poor weaver, a 
few hundred paces from the Meuse 
bridge, and asked if he could remain 
there. 

"I requested my cousin," said Bis- 
marck, ''to inspect the house, and 
he reported that, though free from 
wounded, it was mean and dirty. Fol- 
low, said Napoleon, and with him I 
ascended a rickety, narrow staircase. In 
a small, one-windowed room, with a 
deal table and two rush-bottomed chairs, 
we sat alone for about an hour — a great 
contrast to our last meeting in the Tui- 
leries in 1867," the year of the Paris 
Exhibition. " Our conversation was a 
difficult thing, wanting, as I did, to 
avoid touching on topics which could 
not but painfully affect the man whom 
God's mighty hand had cast down." 

Whenever Napoleon led this conver- 
sation, as he was forever doing, to the 
terribly hard terms of the capitulation. 
Bismarck met him with the assuraxice 
that this was a purely military question, 
and quite beyond his province. Moltke 
was the man to speak to about suet 
things. 

In the meantime efforts had been mace 
to find better accommodation for the 
Emperor, and this was at last discovered 



424 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE 



in the Chateau Bellevue, a little further 
up the Meuse. Leaving Napoleon in 
the weaver's cottage, Bismarck hurried 
back to his quarters on the market-place 
at Donchery to array himself in his full 
uniform, and then, as he said, "I con- 
ducted his Majesty to Bellevue, with a 
squadron of Cuirassiers as escort." 

King William Absent. 

At the conference which now began, 
the Emperor wished to have the King 
present, from whom he expected soft- 
ness and magnanimity ; but his Majesty 
was told that his wish in this respect 
could not possibly be gratified until 
after the capitulation had been signed. 

Oh ! if he could but see and plead 
with the King — was the anguished 
Emperor's constant thought; but the 
King took very good care, or his coun- 
sellors for him, that he should not ex- 
pose himself to any personal appeal 
for pity until the German army had 
safely garnered aT" ""^s splendid harvest 
of victory. 

Meanwhile De WimpfFen had come 
out of Sedan with the despairing de- 
cision of the council of war, and the 
determination to accept Moltke's inex- 
orable terms. But even Moltke, the 
least sentimental and emotional of men 
could not help feeling a genuine throb 
of pity for the very hard fate of De 
Wimpffen — a man of German origin, 
as his name implied — on whom it thus 
fell to sign away the existence of an 
army, of which he had not been four- 
and-twenty hours in supreme command. 

After his interview with Napoleon, 
Bismarck rode to Chehery (on the road 
to Vendresse), in the hope of meeting 
the King and informing him how 
things stood. On the way he was met 



by Moltke, who had the text of the ca* 
pitulation as approved by his Majesty ; 
and on their return to Bellevue it was 
signed without opposition. 

By this unparalleled capitulation 83,- 
000 men were surrendered as prisoners 
of war in addition to the fortress of 
Sedan with its 138 pieces of artillery, 
420 field-guns, including 70 mitrail' 
lenses, 6,000 horses fit for service, 66. - 
000 stand of arms, 1,000 baggage and 
other wagons, an enormous quantity of 
military stores, and three standards. 
Among the prisoners yielded up were the 
Emperor and one of his field marshals 
(MacMahon), 40 generals, and 2,825 
various other officers, all of whom, by 
the special mercy of King William, 
were offered release on parole, though 
only 500 of them took advantage of 
this condition, the others being sent to 
Germany. By the catastrophe of Sedan 
the French had lost — in killed, wounded 
and prisoners — no fewer than 124,000 
men at one fell swoop ! 

Full Surrender. 

With the capitulation , sealed and 
signed, Bismarck and Moltke now hast- 
ened back to the King, whom they 
found on the heights above Donchery 
about noon. His Majesty ordered the 
important document to be read aloud 
to his numerous and brilliant suite, 
which included several German princes. 

Now that an appeal had been taken 
out of the Emperor's power, the King, 
accompanied by the Crown Prince, rode 
down to the chateau of Bellevue to 
meet the fallen monarch. "At one 
o'clock," wrote his Majesty to Queen 
Augusta, " I and Fritz set out, accom- 
panied by an escort of cavalry belong- 
ing to the staff. I dismounted at the 



OVERTHROW OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. 



425 



chateau, and the Emperor came out to 
meet me. The visit lasted for a quarter 
of an hour. We were both deeply 
moved. I cannot describe what I felt 
at the interview, having seen Napoleon 
only three years ago at the height of 
bis power." 

And now, while the crushed and 
broken-hearted Emperor was left to 
spend his last day on the soil of France 
prior to his departure or the place of his 
detention at Wil elmshohe, near Cassel 
(once, strange to say, the residence of | 
his uncle, King Jerome of Westpha' a), 
King William, accompanied by Moltke, 
Roon, Bismarck, and the rest of his 
paladins, started on a ride through all 
the positions occupied by the German 
armies round Sedan. For five long 
hours, over hill and dale, from battery 



to battalion, and from corps to corps, 
through all the various tribes of the 
Fatherland in arms, rode the brilliant 
cavalcade, greeted with triumphant 
music and frantic cheering wherever it 
went, " I cannot describe," wrote the 
King, " the reception given me by the 
troops, nor my meeting with the 
Guards, who have been decimated. I 
was deeply affected by so many proofs 
of love and devotion." 

No wonder the Germans very nearly 
went mad with joy . For no victory had 
ever been like this crowning master- 
piece of Moltke' s genius — so colossal, 
so complete, so momentous in its polit- 
ical results, which converted the French 
Empire into a Republic and the 
Germanic Confederation into an Em- 
pire. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



American Victories in the War with Spain. 



G^g^TPON the outbreak of the war 
gi^X between the United States and 
V^jl^^-^ Spain in 1898, Admiral 
Dewey was in command of 
our Asiatic squadron, which at this 
time was lying in the harbor of Hong 
Kong. Colonel Roosevelt, of Rough 
Rider fame, being then Assistant Secre- 
tary of the Navy, gave orders from 
Washington to Admiral Dewey to pro- 
ceed to Manila and capture or destroy 
the Spanish fleet which was known 
to be in those waters. 

The sailing of the American fleet 
from Hong Kong on April 27 was 
promptly cabled to Manila. Many of 
the better class of residents at once 
hurried aboard merchant vessels with 
their valuables and fled. Those left 
behind took no courage from the con- 
fident boastings of the Spanish army 
and naval officers, but gave way to 
panic from fear of what would happen 
when the native insurgents made an 
attack on the town. It was known to 
the Spanish authorities that the Ame- 
rican fleet would be almost certain to 
arrive on the evening of Saturday, 
April 30th. 

The Spanish fleet, which at first put 
to sea to meet and destroy the " cow- 
ardly Yankees," was recalled Saturday 
afternoon and lined up at Cavite, where 
the arsenals, dry-docks and naval war- 
ships were defended by a long line of 
earthworks. These works had been 
greatly strengthened, notably by the 
addition of several big modern guns. 
426 



They were regarded as very formidable 
by old-fashioned Spanish military en- 
gineers, as were also the fort on Corre- 
gidor Island, the battery on Cabilla Is- 
land, and the works on the mainland 
points to the north and the south. 
These islands were all in readiness^ 
and a chain of mines which guarded 
both channels was prepared to blow up 
each American ship as it passed. 

Saturday night fell with the Span- 
iards on land and water quite cheerful 
over the coming engagement. A short 
time after midnight, the darkness being 
intense, one of the guns in Corregidor 
suddenly boomed out, and all the other 
guns about the entrance to the bay 
took up the cry, and the anxious people 
in Manila poured into the streets. 
They thought the battle had begun. 
In reality the American fleet was al- 
ready past the entrance and was on its 
way up the opposite side of the bay. 

It was a night of terror in Manila. 
The women and children fled to the 
churches, and men rushed to and fro 
in the streets. Dismay seized upon 
the Spanish soldiers. They had not 
believed that the Americans could ever 
get past the entrance to the batteries 
and past the mines. I^ong before dawn 
the panic became a frenzy because of 
reports that came from the interior of 
the island that the natives were mass- 
ing for a descent upon the city to pill- 
age and massacre. When day broke 
the tens of thousands watching on alj 
sides of the vast and beautiful harboi 



AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 



427 



saw the enemy in line of battle about 
ten miles out, directly in front of Ma- 
nila. There were nine vessels in all. 

The Olympia, 5800 tons, a swift com- 
merce destroyer, carrying four terrible 
8-inch guns and ten deadly 5-inch quick- 
firers. This was Dewey's flagship. 

The Baltimore, scarcely 
less formidable than the 
Olympia, with four eight- 
inch guns and six six-inch 
rapid-firers. 

The Boston, smaller than 
the Olympia and Balti- 
more, but still a real and 
powerful floating fort, with 
her two eight-inch guns 
and her six six-inch rapid- 
firers. 

The Raleigh, similar to 
the Boston, with one six- 
inch and ten five-inch 
guns. 

The Concord, with six 
six-inch guns. 

The gunboat Petrel, with 
five six-inch guns. 

To the rear of these the 
transport ships, with coal, 
ammunition and accom- 
modations for wounded. 

With a bright American flag floating 
gayly over each ship, the decks and all 
visible appointments neat and trim, 
the fleet seemed to be out for a holiday 
rather than awaiting an opening for 
the only real demonstration of an iron- 
clad fleet in action that the world has 
had. The Spaniards could hardly be- 
lieve their own eyes. That this formid- 
able apparition [was in the very centre 
of their harbor, almost within firing 
distance of the capital city of their last 
Eastern possessions seemed impossible. 



They had not long to watch and 
speculate. The sun was hardly clear ot 
the horizon before the American fleet 
began to steam in slow and stately 
fashion straight toward the city, near 
which were anchored three men-of-war 
from three difierent nations, French, 





ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY — HERO OF MANILA. 

German and English. The decks and 
rigging of each of these ships were 
thronged with eager officers and sailors, 
discipline seeming to have been forgot- 
ten in an intense desire to see what the 
Yankees would do — these Yankees who ' 
in three-quarters of a century have( 
never sent a hostile fleet into any port 
of a European Power. 

On came the American fleet until it 
was within about three miles of Manila., 
and then a Spanish gun on the battery 
at the end of the Mole spoke ; but the 



428 



AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 



shot fell short. Then from the Span- 
ish fleet, steaming slowly up from Ca- 
v^ite, came several shots at the Ameri- 
can fleet. The two duelists were now 
face to face. 






f ^- 



i ivl 



The smaller cruisers Velasco, Don 
Juan de Austria, and Don Antonio de 
Ulloa, besides ten gunboats. 

Then there were the batteries on 
shore all along the low peninsula. 







MANII^A HAE.BOK — SCBNE 

To expert eyes the Spanish fleet 
seemed far inferior, yet to the people 
watching, and, apparently, to the Span- 
ish officers and sailors, the difference 
did not seem great. The Spanish ships 
were of older patterns, rather than 
smaller, and were far more numerous. 
There were : 

The Reina Cristina, of 3090 tons, 
with six six-inch and two three-inch 
guns. 

The Castilla, with four six-inch guns. 



OF THEJ GREAT BATTI^E. 

To get the full effect of all of thes€ 
guns the Spaniards formed so that the 
Americans would have to face not only 
all the guns afloat, but also all the guns 
on shore at Cavite, while from the rear 
the strong batteries of Manila could, 
perhaps, send aiding shots. When the 
American manceuverings brought their 
ships within range, at about 6.45, the 
real duel began. The Spanish fleet 
stood ready, flanked by the Cavite bat- 
teries on the south. 



AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 



429 



The American fleet began to steam 
languidly to and fro. Suddenly there 
were one or two sharp cracks, and then 
a succession of deafening roars, and 
then one long, reverberating roar, that 
boomed and bellowed from shore to 
shore. A huge cloud of 
smoke lay close iipon the 
waters, and around it was a 
penumbra of thick haze. 

Through this the Ameri- 
can ships could be seen mov- 
ing, now slowly, now more 
rapidly, flames shooting from 
their sides, and answering 
flames leaping from the Span- 
ish ships and land batter- 
ies, while now and then 
from the direction of Manila 
came hollow rumbles as the 
big guns there were dis- 
charged, more from eager- 
ness to take part than from 
the hope of lending effec- 
tive aid. 

It was impossible to see 
from shore the effect of many 
of the shots, but from the fact 
that the American ships were 
alternately advancing and re- 
treating in the course of their 
manceuverings the Spaniards 
on shore got the impression 
that the Yankees were beine beaten. 
When the ships were again seen, the 
Reina Cristina was wrapped in flames. 
On her decks sailors, Spaniards and 
natives, were rushing frantically about. 
The Isle De Cuba came near, and part 
of the Reina Cristina's crew—- perhaps 
all that were still alive — and the Span- 
ish Admiral went aboard her, but hardly 
wer^ they aboard when she, too, burst 
into flames. 



Confusion now reigned throughout 
the Spanish fleet. On every vessel the 
decks were slippery with blood and the 
air filled with the shrieks and groans of 
the Spaniards. The native sailors rushed 
about in a frenzy of rage rather thaii 




ADMIRAL MONTOJO, 
COMMANDER OF SPANISH FLEET AT MANILA. 

terror. The Americans were seemingly 
calm and cool, and still in good order 
they pressed their advantage. In fact, 
they Dushed on too closely, for now the 
fire from the Cavite batteries became 
effective. 

At this juncture the Don Juan de 
Austria became a centre of interest. 
She had been in the very front of battle 
and received, perhaps, more of the 
American shots than any other ship. 



430 



AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 



Admiral Montojo, on the burning Isla 
de Cuba, threw up his arms with a ges- 
ture of despair as a heavy roar came 
from the Don Juan de Austria and part 
of her deck flew up in the air, taking 
with it scores of dead, dying and man- 
gled. A shot had penetrated one of her 
magazines. She was ruined and sink- 
ing, but her crew refused to leave her. 
Weeping, cursing, praying and firing 
madly and blindly they went down with 
her, and as the Don Juan de Austria 
went down the Castilla burst into 
flames. 

Great American Victory. 

The remainder of the Spanish fleet 
now turned and fled down the long, 
narrow inlet behind Cavite. Several 
of the gun-boats were run ashore, others 
fled up a small creek and were grounded 
there. The guns of Cavite kept on 
thundering, and the Americans, pressing 
their advantage no further, drew off. 
As they steamed away toward their 
waiting transports the Spaniards went 
wild with joy. 

They thought that in spite of outward 
appearances the American fleet was 
crippled, and that as it would be unable 
to escape from the harbor it would fall 
into their hands. This was telegraphed 
up to Manila, and soon to Madrid, 
where it filled the Ministry with mo- 
mentary delight ; but before the Minis- 
ters at Madrid had read the false news, 
the American fleet, with decks again 
cleared, and with fresh supplies of 
ammunition, was steaming back toward 
Cavite. 

^rhis second engagement was short. 
The last Spanish ship was soon ground- 
ed or sunk. The American guns were 
now trained on Cavite, and one ship 



after another steamed along pouring in 
a deadly fire. At 1 1. 30 the batteries at 
Cavite ceased to answer, and the Amer- 
ican fleet with ringing cheers from its ex- 
hausted, but triumphant crews steamed 
jubilantly back to the transport ships. 
And to the long list of splendid naval 
victories beginning with the Revolution 
was added the glorious victory of Ma- 
nila. 

In honor of his distinguished services 
Commodore Dewey was raised to the 
rank of Admiral, and Congress passed a 
series of resolutions thanking him and 
his men for services rendered their 
country. 

In the following August the city of 
Manila was captured by our troops 
under command of General Merritt, 
aided by Dewey's fleet. 

War in Cuba. 

During the early part of July such 
complete victories were gained by the 
American land and naval forces in Cuba 
as to end the war with Spain. Our 
Government at Washington despatched 
the North Atlantic Squadron under 
command of Admiral Sampson, and the 
squadron under command of Admiral 
Schley, to Santiago on the southern 
coast of Cuba. Troops to the number 
of 16,000 were also ordered to Santiago 
under command of General Shafter. 

The American officers showed the 
utmost energy in preparing for the at- 
tack on Santiago; by July ist every- 
thing was in readiness, and General 
Shafter ordered a forward movement 
with a view of investing and capturing 
the town. The advance was made in 
two divisions, the left storming the 
works at San Juan. Onr forces in this 
assault were composed of the Rough 



AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 



431 



Riders, commanded by Colonel Wood, 
subsequently by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Roosevelt, and the First, Third, Sixth, 
Ninth and Tenth dismounted cavalry. 
Catching the enthusiasm and boldness 
of the Rough Riders, these men rushed 
against the San Juan defences with a 
fury that was irresistible. 

Their fierce assault was met 
by the Spaniards with a stub- 
■^rnness born of desperation. 
Hour after hour the troops on 
both sides fought fiercely. In 
the early morning the Rough 
Riders met with a similar, 
though less costly experience 
to the one they had at La 
Quasina just a week before, 
where in a hot skirmish they 
lost a number of men. They 
found themselves a target for a 
terrific Spanish fire, to resist 
which for a time was the work 
of madmen. But the Rough 
Riders did not flinch. Fighl 
ing like demons, they held the 
ground tenaciously, now pres 
ing forward a few feet, then 
falling back, under the enemy's 
fire, to the position they held 
a fev7 moments before. 

The Spaniards were no matcn for the 
Roosevelt fighters, however, and as 
had been the case at La Quasina, the 
Western cowboys and Bastern "dan- 
dies " hammered the enemy from their 
path. Straight ahead they advanced, 
until by noon they were well along to- 
ward San Juan, the capture of which 
was their immediate object. 

There was terrible fighting about the 
heights during the next two hours. 
While the Rough Riders were playing 
such havoc in the enemy's lines, the 



First, Third, Sixth, Ninth and Tenth 
cavalry gallantry pressed forward to 
right and left. 

Before the afternoon was far gone 
these organizations made one grand 
rush all along the line, carrying the 
Spaniards off their feet, capturing the 
San Juan fortifications, and sending 




GENERAL WESLEY MERRITT, 
COMMANDER OP AMERICAN ARMY AT MANILA. 

the enemy in mad haste ofi" toward 
Santiago. It was but three o'clock 
when these troops were able to send 
word to General Shafter that they had 
taken possession of the position he had 
given them a day to capture. 

In this attack the cavalrymen were 
supported by the Sixth and Sixteenth 
infantry, who made a brilliant charge 
at the crucial moment. The advance 
was up a long steep slope, through a 
heavy underbrush. Our men were 
subjected to a terrific fire from the ene- 



432 



AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 



my's trenches, and the Rough Riders 
and the Sixth cavalry suffered severely. 
On the right, General Lawton's divi- 
sion, supported by Van Home's bri- 
gade, under command temporarily of 
Colonel lyudlow, of the Engineers, drove 
the enemy from in front of Caney, forc- 
ing them back into the village. There 






GENERAL WILLIAM R. SHAFTER, 
COMMANDER OP AMERICAN ARMY AT SANTIAGO 

the Spaniards for a time were able to 
hold their own, but early in the after- 
noon the American troops stormed the 
village defences, driving the enemy out 
and taking possession of the place. 
Gaining the direct road into Santiago, 
they established their lines within three- 
quarters of a mile of the city at sunset. 
General Shafter's advance against the 
city of Santiago was resumed soon after 
daybreak on the morning of July 2d. 
The American troops renewed the at- 
tack on the Spanish defences with 



impetuous enthusiasm. They were not 
daunted by the heavy losses sustained 
in the first day's fighting. Inspired by 
the great advantages they had gained 
on the preceding - day, the American 
troops were eager to make the final 
assault on the city itself Their ad- 
vance had been an uninterrupted series 
of successes, they having forced 
the Spaniards to retreat from 
each new position as fast as it 
!iad been taken. Admiral Samp- 
son, with his entire fleet, joined 
in the attack. 

The battles before the intrench- 
ments around Santiago resulted 
in advantage to General Shaf- 
ter's army. Gradually he ap- 
proached the city, holding every 
foot of ground gained. In the 
fighting of July 2d, the Spanish 
were forced back into the town, 
their commanding general was 
wounded, and the day closed 
with the certainty that soon our 
flag would float ove^ Santiago. 

The fleet of Admiral Cervera 
had long been shut up in the 
harbor, and during the two 
days' fighting gave effective aid 
to the Spanish infantry by throw" 
ing shells into the ranks of the ArTxeri- 
cans. On the morning of July 3d, an- 
other great naval victory was added to 
the successes of the American arms, a 
victory no less complete and memorablj 
than that achieved by Dewey at Ma- 
nila. 

Admiral Cervera' s fleet, consisting of 
the armored cruisers Cristobal Colon, 
Almirante Oquendo, Infanta Maria Te- 
resa, and Vizcaya, and two torpedo-boat 
destroyers, the Furor and the Pluton, 
which had been held in the harbor of 



AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 



43J 



Santiago de Cuba for six weeks by the 
combined squadrons of Rear-Admiral 
Sampson and Commodore Schley, was 
sent to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea 
off the southern coast of Cuba. 

The Spanish admiral was made a 
prisoner of war on the auxiliary gun- 
boat Gloucester, and i,ooo to 1,500 
other Spanish officers and sailors, 
all who escaped the frightful car- 
nage caused by the shells from the 
American warships, were also made 
prisoners of war by the United 
States navy. 

The American victory was com- 
plete, and the American vessels 
were practically untouched, and 
only one man was killed, though 
the ships were subjected to the 
heavy fire of the Spaniards all the 
time the battle lasted. 

Admiral Cervera made as gal- 
lant a dash for liberty and for the 
preservation of the ships as has 
ever occurred in the history of 
naval warfare. In the face of 
overwhelming odds, with nothing 
before him but inevitable destruc- 
tion or surrender if he remained 
finy longer in the trap in which 
the American fleet held him, 
he made a bold dash from the harbor 
at the time the Americans least ex- 
pected him to do so, and, fighting 
every inch of his way, even when his 
ship was ablaze and sinking, he tried to 
escape the doom which was written on 
the muzzle of every American gun 
trained upon his vessels- 

The Americans saw him the moment 
he left the harbor and commenced their 
work of destruction immediately. For 
an hour or two they followed the flying 
Spaniards to the westward alone the 
28 



shore line, sending shot after shot into 
their blazing hulls, tearing great holes 
in their steel sides and covering their 
decks with the blood of the killed and 
wounded. 

At no time did the Spaniards show 
any indication that they intended to do 
otherwise than fight to the last. They 




ADMIRAL CERVKRA — COMMANDER OF THB 
SPANISH FLEE;T at SANTIAGO. 

displayed no signals to surrender even 
when their ships commenced to sink 
and the great clouds of smoke pouring 
from their sides showed they were on 
fire. But they turned their heads toward 
the shore, less than a mile away, and 
ran them on the beach and rocks, where 
their destruction was soon completed. 

The ofiicers and men on board then 
escaped to the shore as well as they 
could with the assistance of boats sent 
from the American men-of-war, and 
then threw themselves upon the mercy 



434 



AMERICAN VICTORIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN. 



of their captors, who not only extended 
to them the gracious hand of American 
chivalry, but sent them a guard to pro- 
tect them from the murderous bands of 
Cuban soldiers hiding in the bushes on 
the hillside, eager to rush down and 
attack the unarmed, defeated, but val- 
orous foe. 

One after another the Spanish ships 
became the victims of the awful 
rain of shells which the American bat- 
tleships, cruisers and gun-boats poured 
upon them, and two hours after the first 
of the fleet had started out of Santiago 
harbor three cruisers and two torpedo- 
boat destroyers were lying on the shore 
ten to fifteen miles west of Morro Cas- 
tle, pounding to pieces, smoke and 
flame pouring from every part of them 
and covering the entire coast line 
with a mist which could be seen for 
yniles. 

Heavy explosions of ammunition oc- 
curred every few minutes, sending curls 
of dense white smoke a hundred feet 
in the air and causing a shower of oro- 
ken iron and steel to fall in the water on 
every side. The bluffs on the coast 
line echoed with the roar of every ex- 
plosion, and the Spanish vessels sank 
deeper and deeper into the sand or 
«lse the rocks ground their hulls to 



pieces as they rolled or pitched forward 
or sideways with every wave that washed 
upon them from the open sea. 

Admiral Cervera escaped to the shore 
in a boat sent by the Gloucester to the 
assistance of the Infanta Maria Teresa, 
and as soon as he touched the beach he 
surrendered himself and his command 
to lyieutenant Morton and asked to be 
taken on board the Gloucester, which 
was the only American vessel near him 
at the time, with several of his officers, 
including the captain of the flagship. 
The Spanish admiral, who was wounded 
in the arm, was taken to the Gloucester, 
and was received at her gangway by 
her commander, lyieutenant Richard 
Wainwright, who grasped the hand of 
the gray-bearded admiral and said to 
him: 

' ' I congratulate you, sir, upon having 
made as gallant a fight as was ever wit- 
nessed on the sea." 

The only casualties in the American 
fleet were one man killed and two 
wounded on the Brooklyn. A large 
number of the Spanish wounded were 
removed to the American ships. 

Soon afterward the Spanish army in 
the Province of Santiago surrendered 
to General Shafter and our war with 
Spain was ended. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



War Between the British and the Boers. 



Yg)TOSTILITIES between Great 
1-=^ Britain and the Transvaal, or 
Jis) I ^ South African Republic, 
which had been impending 
for several years, broke out in October, 
1899, On the 9th of this month the 
British Government received the Boer 
ultimatum, demanding that points in 
dispute be referred to arbitration ; that 
all British troops on the border of the 
Transvaal be instantly withdrawn ; that 
reinforcements sent to South Africa , 
since June ist be removed ; that no 
more troops be landed in South Africa, 
and that Great Britain answer before 
5 o'clock p. M., October nth. On the 
same date the Gordon Highlanders and 
troops from India were ordered to Lady- 
smith, a town in Natal. 

Great Britain, on the lOth, repliei} 
that conditions demanded by the Trans- 
vaal were such as could not be dis- 
cussed. The British agent was in- 
structed to apply for his passport, 
which meant that war was an assured 
fact, and that communication between 
the two governments was now at an 
end. 

The time for acceptance of the ulti- 
matum expired at 5 o'clock p. M., Oc- 
tober nth. Conyngham Greene, the 
British agent at Pretoria, paid his fare- 
well visits to President Kruger and the 
Boer officials. General Prinsloo was 
appointed commander-in-chief of the 
Orange Free State forces ; headquarters 
at Albertina. The Boers occupied 



Laing's Nek and the British hurrie<i 
troops to the western border. 

The Orange Free State joined th« 
Transvaal in war against Great Britain, 
and hurried troops forward to co-operate 
with the Boer army under command of 
General Joubert. General Cronje com- 
manded the Boer forces on the western 
border, and laid siege to Kimberley, 
the "Diamond City," and also to Mafe- 
king, another important town lying 
north of Kimberley. It will suffice for 
our present purpose to furnish here a 
chronicle of the important events of the 
struggle, which was desperate and 
bloody, both sides exhibiting the most 
consummate strategy and the greatest 
heroism. 

At Nicholson's Nek about 800 Brit- 
ish officers and men and two-thirds of a 
mountain battery were captured, and 
about 650 prisoners and two guns fell 
into the hands of the Boers at Storm- 
berg. Eleven guns were also taken by 
the Boers at Colenso. 

General Buller suffered a severe re- 
pulse at Colenso on December 15, but 
hi? campaign met with its greatest dis- 
aster late in January. A flanking move- 
ment, under the immediate command 
of General Warren, failed signally, anv^ 
a general withdrawal of the British 
forces to the south side of the Tugel- 
River was the immediate result. 

Mafeking was invested on October 
14, and after that date Colonel Baden- 
Powell, with 1.600 irregulars, kept at 

435 



436 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



bay a Boer force with a varying strength 
of from 2,000 to 5,000 men. 

Lord Methuen, commanding the 
British forces on the western border, 
fought four battles and advanced to 
within twenty-five miles of beleaguered 
Kimberley. Belmont, Gras Pan and 




GENERAL lyORD KITCHENER, 
CHIEF OP FIELD MARSHAL ROBERTS' STAFF 

Modder River cost 1,167 lives, and at 
Magersfontein, where his progress was 
stopped, he lost 967 more men. He then 
remained at a standstill until General 
Roberts arrived with reinforcements, 
drove the Boers back, finally captured 
General Cronje and some 4,000 of his 
troops, and raised the seige of Kimber- 
ley. This occurred on February 27th. 
Lord Roberts reached Modder River 
February 9th, where a force of British 
troops had been concentrated. On 
February nth British cavalry and 
mounted infantry began the movement 
en the Boer's left flank which resulted 



in General Cronje's flight toward 
Bloemfontein, capital of Orange Free 
State, his being surrounded at Paarde- 
burg on February 19 after a series of 
rear-guard engagements and his surren- 
der on February 27, as already stated. 
Meanwhile Kimberley was incidentally 
relieved on February 15, after a siege 
of 123 days. 

In the latter part of October, soon 
after the war began, battles were 
fought in the northern part of Natal, 
yet were not decisive. The British 
troops encountered a strong force of 
Boers at Dundee, and also at Elands- 
laagte. On October 20th the Boer 
General Inkas Meyer's column at- 
tacked the British force under General 
Symons. The British troops suffered 
severely, and General Symons was 
mortally wounded. At Elandslaagte, 
October 21st, a British column under 
General French, commander of cav- 
alry, routed the Boers. General- Yule 
withdrew the British forces to Lady- 
smith, and this town was besieged. 
The troops at Ladysmith, under com- 
mand of General White, resisted their 
• foe bravely, repulsed several attacks, 
and the garrison, consisting at first of 
12,000 men, together with the residents 
of the town, was reduced to sore straits 
and suffered great privations. 

General Buller and British troops 
attempting to force their way to Lady- 
smith, to relieve the besieged town, 
met with several disastrous repulses 
and were forced back to the south side 
of the Tugela River. On January 23d, 
24th and 25 th they captured Spion Kop 
(Bluff") after sharp fighting, involving 
heavy losses, but were compelled to 
abandon the position. General Buller 
bep-a-u his fourth attempt to force his 




i ^11 I nil J/l,/ /MJLmL //' 11'^./ 



i37 



438 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



way to Ladysmith on February 14th, 
and for a number of days fought a con- 
tinuous battle. 

The disasters that overtook the Boers 
on the western border compelled them 
to abandon the siege at Ladysmith, 



GENERAL SIR GEOROE STEWART WHITE 

and on February 28th General Dun- 
donald with the Natal Carbineers and a 
composite regiment entered Ladysmith. 
The garrison were on a half pound of 
meal daily per man and were supple- 
menting the meat ration with horses 
and mules. It was learned that General 
White had withstood a heavy bombard- 
ment, repelled two hard pressed attacks 
and made two successful sorties. The 
troops suffered much from typhoid fever 
and lack of food and medical supplies. 
It will be of interest to the reader to 
learn what explanation the Boers gave 
of their retreat and of the attendant 
military operations. The following was 
sent out from the Boer camp at Big- 
garsberg » 




* ' The Federals have fallen back on 
the Biggarsberg chain, crossing Natal 
south of Dundee. The retreat from 
Ladysmith was due to the mistake of 
a certain commandant in ordering his 
men. to retire from the key of the posi- 
tion without any reason for the 
move. 

" On the receipt of the bad news 
from the Modder River on February 
28th it was resolved to Pend the 
wagons back to Biggarsberg, and 
soon long strings of ox wagons lined 
the roads. Over a thousand wagons 
took ihe westerly route to the laager 
southwest of Ladysmith. Another 
convoy was sent to the foot of the 
Drakensberg. A large number of 
tents captured from the British at 
Dundee and also the ammunition 
were of necessity abandoned. 

"The chief difficulty was in dis- 
mounting ' Long Tom.' The Boers 
were independent of the railway, as 
is shown by the fact that not one of 
their two thousand wagons went by 
rail. All travelled by road, together 
with the field batteries. Only the 
heavy guns, the infantry and wounded 
went by rail. 

' ' When the last train had left Elands- 
laagte a workman's train followed, care- 
fully blowing up every bridge and cul- 
vert between Ladysmith and Glencoe, 
and, when this had been done, setting 
fire to the Elandslaagte collieries. Thus 
the British, with Natal's southernmost 
collieries in their hands, are unable to 
draw supplies therefrom. 

"Under cover of the night and with 
the collieries sending lurid flames to 
heaven the bullock wagons wound over 
the hills, making roads where none be- 
fore existed J and the four mouths' 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



439 



siege of Ladysmlth was raised. It is 
impossible as yet to give the burgher 
casualties, owing to the disorganization 
of the ambulance corps and the circum- 
stances of the retreat." 

Roberts' victory over the Boer rear 
guard as he pressed on toward Bloem- 
fontein appears to have been decisive. 
The burghers withstood the cavalry and 
horse artillery of Colville and Kelly- 
Kenny, but were turned and dislodged 
by the infantry. The Welsh and Es- 
sex regiments drove the Boers from 
their intrenched positions at the point 
of the bayonet. The British losses 
were unknown. As the troops con- 
tinued to advance Roberts telegraphed 
the names of few casualties. The Boer 
losses must have been considerable, as 
102 of their dead were left on the field. 

Aasvogel Kop, which the British 
reached March nth, was expected to 
be the last place at which the Boers 
would make their stand before Bloem- 
fontein. No such stand was made, and 
Roberts' cavalry on that date were 
practically at the gates of Bloemfontein, 
and the way to the Capital was open 
to the whole force. 

Peace proposals having been made 
by the Boer government, unconditional 
surrender on the part of the Transvaal 
and Orange Free State, and an absolute 
declination to consider any proffer of 
good offices or intervention on the part 
of any foreign Power, was the policy 
decided upon by the British Govern- 
ment. Leader Balfour's announcement 
of the terms on which her Majesty's 
Government were willing to end the 
war created the liveliest interest among 
the members of all shades of politics. 
It quite overshadowed, in the public 
mind, for the time being, the import- 



ance of Roberts' advance on Bloem- 
fontein. 

The document was very brief, con- 
sisting of only two telegrams. The 
first was a communication from Presi- 




GENERAI. FRENCH, 
COMMANDER OF THE BRITISH CAVAI.RY. 

dents Kruger and Steyn, expressing 
the readiness of the Transvaal and 
Orange Free State to surrender, pro- 
vided the independence of the Republic 
was assured, the reply of the government 
was a peremptory refusar to entertain 
any such terms. There must be uncon- 
ditional surrender. 

In the Parliamentary lobby the idea 
of entertaining any such proposals was 
altogether scouted. The military ex- 
perts believed that the end of the war 
was still far distant. A prominent 
member of the Government stated that 
no settlement with the South African 
Republics would be possible which 
failed as a starting point to provide for 
the disarmament of the Boers and the 
demolition of their fortresses. 

Lord Roberts again turned the Boer 



440 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



position, and with his entire force, 
which comprised 40,000 men, arrived 
at Ventersveller, twelve miles south- 
west of Bloemfontein. The Boers, who 
numbered 12,000 men, with eighteen 
guns, were entrenched along the main 
road to the Free State capital, but the 
British, by keeping south and follow- 
ing Kraal Spruit instead of the Modder, 
flanked them. 

Critical Situation. 

It was now doubtful if the burghers 
would make any further attempt to de- 
fend Bloemfontein. If they did they 
would have to take up a new position 
where they would have but little time 
to entrench themselves. Such was the 
critical situation in which the Boer 
army was placed. 

On March 13th was issued at London 
a correspoL'dence of greatest moment 
between the Republics of South Africa 
and the British Government. It first 
gave the telegrams sent by the two pre- 
sidents to the Marquis of Salisbury, as 
follows : 

"Bloemfontein, March 5.— The blood 
and tears of thousands who have suf- 
fered by this war and the prospect of 
all moral and economic ruin wherewith 
South Africa is now threatened, make 
it necessaiy for both belligerents to ask 
themselves dispassionately and as in the 
sight of the triune God for what are 
they fighting and whether the aim of 
each justifies all this appalling misery 
and devastation. 

"With this object and in view of the 
assertions of various British statesmen 
to the effect that this war was begun 
and is being carried on with the set 
purpose of undermining Her Majesty's 
authority in South Africa and of set- 



ting up an administration over all of 
South Africa independent of Her Majes- 
ty's government, we consider it our duty 
to solemnly declare that this war was un- 
dertaken solely as a defensive measure 
to maintain the threatened independ- 
ence of the South African Republic, 
and is only continued in order to secure 
and maintain the incontestable inde- 
pendence of both Republics as sov- 
ereign international states and to ob- 
tain the assurance that those of Her 
Majesty's subjects who have taken part 
with us in this war shall sufier no harm 
whatever in person or property. 

Terms of Peace. 

"On these conditions, but on these 
conditions alone, are we now, as in the 
past, desirous of seeing peace re-estab- 
lished in South Africa, while, if Her 
Majesty's Government is determined to 
destroy the independence of the repub- 
lics there is nothing left to us and to 
our people but to persevere to the end 
in the course already begun. In spite 
of the overwhelming pre-eminence of 
the British Empire we are confident 
that God, who lighted the inextinguish- 
able fire of love of freedom in the hearts 
of ourselves and our fathers, will not 
forsake us and will accomplish his work 
in us and our eJescendants. 

"We hesitated to make this declara- 
tion earlier to your excellency as we 
feared that as long as the advantage 
was always on our side and as long as 
our forces held defensive positions far 
within Her Majesty's colonies, such a 
declaration might hurt the feelings and 
honor of the British people. 

"But now that the prestige of the 
British Empire may be considered to be 
assured by the capture of one of out 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



44) 



forces by Her Majesty's troops and that 
we have thereby been forced to evacuate 
other positions which our forces had 
occupied, that difficulty is over and we 
can no longer hesitate to clearly inform 
your government and people, in the 
sight of the whole civilized world, why 
we are fighting and on what conditions 
we are ready to restore peace." 

Salisbury's Sharp Reply. 

The Marquis of Salisbury to the pres- 
ident of the South African Republic 
and Orange Free State : 

"Foreign Office, March ii. — I have 
the honor to acknowledge your honors' 
telegram dated March 5 from Bloem- 
fontein, of which the purport is princi- 
pally to demand that Her Majesty's 
government grant the 'incontestable 
independence' of the South African 
Republic and Free State, ' as sovereign 
international states,' and to offer on these 
terms to bring the war to a conclusion. 

" In the beginning of October last 
peace existed between Her Majesty and 
the two Republics under conventions 
which then were in existence. 

*'A discussion had been proceeding 
for some months between Her Majesty's 
government and the South African Re- 
public, of which the object was to obtain 
redress for certain very serious griev- 
ances under which the British residents 
in South Africa were suffering. 

" In the course of these negotiations 
the South African Republics had to 
the knowledge of Her Majesty's govern- 
ment made considerable armaments, 
and the latter had consequently taken 
steps to provide corresponding rein- 
torcements of the British garrisons at 
Cape Town and in Natal. 

" No infringement of the rights guar- 



anteed by the conventions had up to 
that point taken place on the British 
side. Suddenly, at two days' notice, 
the South African Republic, after issu- 
ing an insulting ultimatum, declared 
war upon Her Majesty, and the Orange 
Free State, with whom there had not 
even been any discussion, took a similar 
step. 

" Her Majesty's dominions were im- 
mediately invaded by two Republics. 
Siege was laid to three towns within 
the British frontier, a large portion of 
two colonies was overrun, with great 
destruction of property and life, and 
the Republics claimed to treat the in- 
habitants of extensive portions of Hei 
Majesty's dominions as if those domin- 
ions had been annexed to one or the 
other of them. 

"In anticipation of these operations 
the South African Republics had been 
accumulating for many years past mili- 
tary stores on an enormous scale, which, 
by their character, could only have been 
introduced for use against Great Britain. 

Secret Preparations. 

" Your honors make some observations 
of a negative character upon the object 
with which these preparations were 
made. I do not think it necessary to dis' 
cuss the questions you have raised. But 
the result of these preparations, carried 
on with great secrecy, has been that the 
British Empire has been compelled to 
confront an invasion which has entailed 
upon the Empire a costly war and the 
loss of thousands of precious lives. 
This great calamity has been the pen- 
alty Great Britain has suffered for hav- 
ing of recent years acquiesced to the 
existence of the two republics. 

" In view of the use to which the tw<? 



442 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



Republics have put the position which 
was given them and the calamities their 
unprovoked attack has inflicted on Her 
Majesty's dominions, Her Majesty's 
government can only answer your hon- 
ors' telegrams by saying they are not 
prepared to assent to the independence 
either of the South African Republic or 
the Orange Free State." 

Intervention Solicited. 

Our government at Washington was 
asked by Presidents Kruger and Steyn, 
through the United States Consul Adel- 
bert S. Hay, at Pretoria, to intervene 
for the purpose of restoring peace. The 
representations made by our govern- 
ment to Great Britain were to the effect 
that any thing the State Department 
could do in the interests of peace would 
gladly be undertaken. The well known 
aversion of the British government to 
any foreign intervention does not ap- 
pear to have been aroused, and, while 
Lord Salisbury stated he was unable to 
comply with the offer, he expressed 
his appreciation of the United States' 
efforts on behalf of humanity. 

Mr. Hay and the other consuls, sub- 
sequent to Presidents Kruger and Steyn 
sending their peace cablegram to Lord 
Salisbury, were asked to endeavor to 
secure the good offices of their respective 
governments, apparently with a view of 
bringing outside influence to bear upon 
Lord Salisbury's reply to the Boer over- 
tures. These seem to have been fruit- 
less, except in the instance of the 
United States consul, whose represen- 
tations to Secretary Hay were forwarded 
March 12th to the United States em- 
bassy in London with the instructions 
outlined above. These Mr. White, the 
charge d' affairs, personally presented to 



Lord Salisbury, who received them cor- 
dially but without committing himself 
to any definite expression of opinion. 

As the Boer overtures had already 
been answered to the effect that no 
propositions including the maintenance 
of the Republics' independence could 
be considered, the presentation of the 
American offer was already too late, 
but the premier apparently deemed it 
a matter of sufficient importance to put 
himself on record with a formal reply. 

Europe Indifferent. 

Salisbury's declaration sounded the 
death knell of the independence of the 
Transvaal and the Orange Free State. 
The appeal of Presidents Kruger and 
Steyn to the Powers for intervention 
fell upon unheeding ears. From the 
capitals of Europe there was no re- 
sponse. Despatches from Berlin, Paris, 
Vienna, St. Petersburg and Rome were 
all of the same tenor. Every Govern- 
ment realized that England was deter- 
mined to settle the affair herself in her 
own way this time. 

There is a marked difference from a 
diplomatic standpoint between inter- 
vention and mediation. Intervention 
implies that one of the parties might 
perhaps brook no interference, but that 
intervention would take place despite 
this. No Power whatever displayed 
the slightest intention to intervene in 
any way. Berlin, Paris, Vienna and 
Rome all notified their representatives 
at Pretoria that they could not inter- 
fere. 

As regards mediation, it was consid- 
ered highly improbable that any one of 
the European powers would take the 
initiative and put the question to Great 
Britain whether mediation was desired. 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



443 



The Kaiser's Government replied that 
Germany wonld be ready to co-operate 
in any movement for mediation as soon 
as it became clear that both parties de- 
sired it. 

Very soon stirring news came from 
the British column that for a number 
of days had been pressing on toward the 
capital of the Orange Free State. Lon- 
don and all other British and colonial 
towns were excited and made jubilant 
by another victory of the British forces. 
Following is the text of Lord Roberts' 
despatch to the War Office in London 
announcing his occupation of the cap- 
ital of the Orange Free State : 

Lord Roberts' Despatch. 

" Bloemfontein, Tuesday, March 13, 
8 P.M. — By the help of God and the 
bravery of Her Majesty's soldiers, the 
troops under my command have taken 
possession of Bloemfontein. The Brit- 
ish flag now flies over the Presidency, 
evacuated last evening by Mr. Steyn, 
late President of the Orange Free State. 
Mr. Fraser, member of the late execu- 
tive government ; the Mayor, the Secre- 
tary to the late government, the Land- 
rost and other officials met me tv/o 
miles from the town and presented me 
with the keys of the public offices. The 
enemy has withdrawn from the neigh- 
borhood, and all seems quiet. The in- 
habitants of Bloemfontein gave the 
troops a cordial welcome." 

The events immediately preceding 
the entrance of the British into Bloem- 
fontein are detailed in two despatches 
from Lord Roberts. One dated Venter's 
Vlei at half-past 9 o'clock on the even- 
ing of March 12th, said : "Our march 
vv^as again unopposed. We are now 
'.bout eig-hteen miles from Bloemfon- 



tein. The cavalry division is astride 
the railway six miles south of Bloem 
fontein. There were 321 men wounded, 
and about sixty or seventy were killed 
or are missing. The wounds are, as a 
rule, more serious than usual, owing to 
the expanding bullets which are freely 
used by the Boers." 

A second despatch, dated twenty min- 
utes after 5 o'clock next morning, said: 
" I directed General French, if there 
were time before dark, to seize the rail- 
way station at Bloemfontein and thus 
secure the rolling stock. At midnight 
I received a report from him that, after 
considerable opposition, he had been 
able to occupy two hills close to the 
railway station, which commanded 
Bloemfontein. A brother of President 
Steyn has been made a prisoner. The 
telegraph line leading northward has 
been cut and the railway broken up. I 
am now starting with the Third Cavalry 
Brigade, which I called up from the 
Seventh division, near Petrusburg, yes- 
terday, and the mounted infantry, to 
reinforce the cavalry division. The rest 
of the force will follow as quickly as 
possible.' ' 

British Forces at Bloemfontein 

A few hours after this despatch was 
sent the Capital was occupied, an ac- 
count of which is furnished by an eye- 
witness as follows : 

"Bloemfontein, Tuesday, March 13th. 
— Lord Roberts entered Bloemfontein 
at half-past one o'clock to-day, followed 
by the Gordon Highlanders, a cavalry 
brigade and three batteries of horse 
artillery. Steyn, Fischer and other 
prominent officials fled privately from 
the Capital last night, transferring the 
seat of government to Kroonstad. The 



444 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND i.-_. iiOERS. 



State's position had been discussed for 
several days between the war and peace 
parties in the town. Prominent digni- 
taries, among them Kellner and Fraser, 
surrendered the town to Lord Roberts 
at noon to-day. 

Advance of General French. 

" General French reached the railway 
seven miles south yesterday afternoon, 
destroying the track north and south. 
The object of this step was to delay the 
arrival of Joubert and block the retreat 
of the enemy. Since the affair at Abra- 
ham's Kraal there has been only a sin- 
gle skirmish yesterday, when the cav- 
alry were engaged. With your other 
correspondent I got within a hundred 
yards of the Boer's trenches at Abra- 
ham's Kraal. We were hunted for 
eight miles and our horses shot. The 
back of the war here is broken. The 
populace are cheering Roberts and the 
soldiers and Union Jacks are flying 
everywhere." 

Two newspaper correspondents were 
the first to enter Bloemfontein. Gen- 
eral French had sent out scouts to feel 
their way toward the town, perceiving 
which the correspondents of the " Sydney 
Herald " and the " London Daily News," 
with one other, galloped forward and 
entered the town, which wore an every- 
day aspect. The people were out shop- 
ping or for morning walks, and at first 
the two newspaper men were regarded 
as townsfolk. When later it became 
known that they were the forerunners 
of the British army they were greeted 
cordially and conducted to a club, where 
they met Mr. Fraser, of the Executive 
Council ; the Mayor and other officials. 
These they persuaded to take carriages 
and go to meet Lord Roberts. 



As the party drove out of the city the 
British cavalry were closing around like 
a high net. The deputation soon ar- 
rived opposite the kopje where Lord 
Roberts was stationed, and one corre- 
spondent rode forward and had the 
honor of announcing to the commander- 
in-chief that Bloemfontein would sur- 
render. 

A little later the deputation began to 
approach and Lord Roberts went for- 
ward to meet them. The scene was 
picturesque in the extreme. A few 
yards away the gilns of a battery pointed 
their grim mouths toward the late posi- 
tion of the Boers, while the tin roofs of 
Bloemfontein shone in the distance. 
After salutes had been exchanged, a 
I member of the deputation stepped for- 
ward and declared that the town, being 
without defense, wished to surrender, 
hoping that Lord Roberts would protect 
life and property. He replied that, 
provided there was no opposition, 
he would undertake to guarantee the 
security of both. 

Siege of Maf eking. 

Lord Roberts notified the deputation 
of his intention of entering the town in 
state and they withdrew to inform the 
townspeople. Lord Roberts then made 
his military dispositions, ordering the 
First Brigade to follow him and take 
possession of the town. With his staf? 
and military attaches he descended the 
kopje, and he arrived on the plain, 
where he waited until the cavalry 
approached. Then he entered the city, 
followed by his personal staff, the gen- 
eral staff, the military attaches and the 
troops. 

The following was reported from 
Mafekin^ under date of February 19th? 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



445 



* * Horse meat now composes a consid- 
erable part of our rations. There is lit- 
tle grumbling. The first pinch of the 
siege is over, and the town has settled 
grimly to stick it out. What may be 
typhoid malaria has broken out in the 
women's laager, and dysentery, due to 
the absence of vegetables, is rife among 
the garrison. We are thrown upon our 
own resources. Such luxuries as we 
had are exhausted or have been com- 
mandeered for the hospitals, which are 
filled to overflowing. The children's 
graveyard, close to the women's laager, 
grows weekly, as the young lives are 
cut short prematurely by shell and fever. 
We look with hope deferred for relief 

Intense Suffering. 

" The cheerfulness which was charac- 
teristic of the early days of the siege has 
almost deserted us, the men preferring 
to remain at their posts rather than 
move about and work up an appetite 
which cannot be satisfied. The natives 
are in the worst plight. Those who are 
unable to obtain work are allowed a 
small handful of meal daily. Many 
braving the danger wander about the 
town with gaunt and hungry faces in 
search of work, which entitles them to 
an extra ration of meal. If they find 
work they are generally too weak to 
perform it. 

" From their advanced posts the Boers 
rake the streets and the market square. 
It is impossible to dodge their bullets. 
We have taken remarkable precaution, 
however, and the casualties, though 
heavy, are not what they might have 
been had less able men been at the head 
of afiairs." 

The same distress was reported on 
March 13th, only intensified. 



A despatch from the besieged town 
said : " The garrison is holding its own. 
We have heard numerous rumors that 
the siege will be raised, but so far that 
is not the case. We are living along 
patiently on quarter rations, supple- 
mented by the occasional capture of cat- 
tle. Our home-made gun erratically 
bombards the Boer trenches. Horrible 
stories are current that the Boers are 
inflicting nameless tortures upon cap- 
tured native runners. These may not 
be true, but they are tending to inflame 
native passions to such an extent that 
it may soon be impossible to hold the 
natives in check. 

" Owing to the Boers having deliber- 
ately bombarded the native stadt, which 
is full of women and children, Colonel 
Baden-Powell has armed the natives, 
but he has only allowed them to act on 
the defensive, although they have clam- 
ored to be allowed to go out and attack 
at the point of the assegai. They will 
be prevented as long as possible from 
inflicting reprisals on the Boers." 

Death of General Joubert 
The famous Boer General, who was 
the leading spirit of the war on the 
Boers' side, died at Pretoria, March 29, 
1900. 

When the advance of Lord Roberts 
on Bloemfontein made it necessary from 
a military point of view to abandon the 
line of defence along the Tugela River, 
which had been so long and stubbornly 
held by his army. General Joubert 
conducted with consummate skill the 
retreat northward to take up fresh de- 
fensive positions at Biggarsberg, with 
Laing's Nek in his rear. 

Strong enemy and bitter foe as was 
Joubert, the news of his death excited 



446 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



no rancorous feeling or unseemly satis- 
faction, even in the army ranged against 
him in Natal. A kindly sentiment, in 
fact, had already been produced by sev- 
eral instances in which General Joubert 
had, immediately before the outbreak 
rof the war and during its brief course, 
displayed his humane and courteous 
disposition. One such was when he 
sent a message of condolence to Lady 
Symons, after the death of General 
Penn Symons in the hospital at Dundee. 

Praise from an Enemy. 

Nor did the side of the Boer Gen- 
eral's character pass unacknowledged by 
the British leaders against whom he 
was pitted. Only two days before his 
death. Sir George White, the gallant de- 
fender of Lady smith and a commander 
in chief in India, in a speech at Cape 
Town, paid a willing tribute to his an- 
tagonist, who, he declared, was a soldier 
and a gentleman, and a brave and hon- 
orable opponent. 

How popular he was with his own 
folk has perhaps never been better 
shown than in the picturesque scene 
described by Mr. Bennett Burleigh, the 
war correspondent who literally stormed 
Joubert' s special train and travelled 
with him on his way to the front. At 
the stations the Boers clustered about 
the General to shake hands with him. 
He got down from the train and said a 
few words of encouragement to the 
burgher soldiers at each stopping place. 
\ But few public men of foreign coun- 
' tries were better known from their por- 
traits than was Joubert, whether in his 
General's uniform or his ordinary dress 
asa Boer farmer, unless his compatriot 
President Kruger is excepted. The 
Boer leaders had much in common in 



family history as well as in political 
association. Like President Kruger, 
Joubert was of sturdy stock. His name 
declares a French extraction, as he rep- 
resented the intermarriage of French 
Huguenot settlers at the Cape with the 
original Dutch colonists. 

The reasons that led to the "Great 
Trek," the passionate love of inde- 
pendence, even at the price of isolation 
from the outside world, swayed him to 
the end. When his countrymen con- 
ceded their country to the British 
through sheer inability to maintain a 
government of their own against their 
numerous enemies among the native 
tribes, Pietrus Jacobus Joubert was one 
of the protesting party. A demand for 
the re-establishment of the Republic 
was made to Sir Bartle Frere, but it 
was not until Kruger, Joubert and Pre- 
torius formed themselves into a trium- 
virate in December, 1880, that they were 
able to carry their wishes into effect 
during the troubles in which Mr. Glad- 
stone's government was then involved. 

Great Organizer. 

Joubert took the command in chief of 
the burgers and quickly showed that 
he had a military organization of singu- 
lar effectiveness at his disposal. In a 
few weeks defeats were inflicted on the 
British troops as they endeavored to 
penetrate the Transvaal. Laing's Nek 
was followed by the overwhelming dis- 
aster of Majuba Hill, in February, 1881, 
and at the convention signed at the 
foot of the mountain General Joubert 
practically won back for the time being 
t'\e independence of his country. 

His association with Paul Kruger de- 
veloped as time went on into active 
rivalry. A keen contest for the Presi- 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



44T 



dency of the Republic took place be- 
tween them in 1893, when the General 
received 7,009 votes, against the 7,881 
given to Mr. Kruger. In 1899 " Ooni 
Paul" had it nearly all his own way, 
gaining re-election by 12,000 votes, 
whereas Joubert was but third in the 
contest, with only 2,000 votes. 

Joubert's Strategy. 

Under his direction, as head of the 
military forces the organization of the 
Republic's army was brought to a pitch 
of perfection, as the campaign showed. 
In taking the offensive in the war, 
Joubert's strategy showed generalship 
of a high order, and dauntless persis- 
tency in the face of serious checks when 
ills farmers met trained troops in close 
conflict. 

No doubt he Wc s entitled to a great 
part of the credit for the perfect state of 
preparation in which the Boer armies 
took the field at the outbreak of hostil- 
ities, the ample supplies of heavy artil- 
lery, and the admirable use made of 
strong positions of defense. He was 
active in the first days of mobilization, 
and exercised constant supervision over 
the preliminary movements of the in- 
vasion of Natal. 

It was he v/ho was in command of the 
Boers during some of the fiercest as- 
saults made by General Buller in the 
effort to beat his way through to Lady- 
smith; and it is supposed that he di- 
rected the masterly retreat northward, 
without the loss of man or gun, after 
contesting every foot of the ground, 
when the strategy of Lord Roberts made 
his position untenable. He was pre- 
vented from entering Bloemfontein by 
General French's capture of the railroad. 
Reports of his ill health had been com- 



mon, and there were stories too, of his 
unpopularity and loss of authority ; but 
the general belief was that he was en« 
gaged in superintending the construc- 
tion of defenses for Pretoria, in readi- 
ness for the expected siege by Lord 
Roberts. His death following the cap- 
ture of Cronje, left the Boers without 
the services of their two most famous 
and able commanders. 

Mobility of the Boers. 

General Joubert could collect his 
whole army in forty -eight hours, a much 
speedier mobilization than any other 
nation could boast of. He divided the 
Transvaal into seventeen divisions, each 
under a commander. These again were 
subdivided into sections, commanded 
by field cornets and assistant field cor- 
nets. The wonderful mobility of his 
forces, practically a mass of irregular 
mounted infantry, has been the subject 
of repeated comment and undisguised 
admiration on the part of many British 
commanders. 

When the Boers raided British terri- 
tory, Bechuanaland, in 1884, General 
Joubert was probably the only promi- 
nent Boer who refused to support the 
movement, and his opposition resulted 
in the withdrawal of the Boers from the 
territory seized, as he threatene/ l-^, 
resign unless he had his way, saying : 
" I positively refuse to hold office under 
a government that deliberately breaks 
its covenants, and we have made cove- 
nants with England." 

Although some of the youriger com- 
manders thought the old soldier wanting 
in dash and enterprise, his raid into the 
country south of the Tugela was consid- 
ered the best piece of Boer leadership 
during the whole wan It is now known 



448 



WAR BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND THE BOERS. 



that he crossed the Tugela with only 
3,000 riflemen and six guns, but so bold 
and rapid were his movements that the 
British commanders thought 10,000 
Boers were marching on Pietermaritz- 
burg. 

For a few days, although in the pres- 
ence of greatly superior forces, he iso- 
lated General Hildyard's brigade at Est- 
court and at the same time threatened 
General Barton's camp at Mool river. 
Then, as British reinforcements were 
pushed up, Joubert recrossed the Tugela 
without losing a prisoner, a wagon or a 
gun. General White's estimate of him, 
pronounced two days before he died, as 
a gentleman and a brave and honorable 
opponent, illustrated the tone of all 
British comment. 

After the Boers were driven xT m 
Bloemfontein they concen'^^ated at Wep- 
ener, a short distance to the south-east. 
This place was held by the British, who 
successfully resisted several sharp at- 
tacks. By the latter part of April, 1900, 
there was great activity in the cam- 
paign to the eastward of Bloemfontein. 

It was now six weeks since Lord 
Roberts* army reached the capital of 



the Free State, and his army, which 
had been facing northward, now faced 
about to the eastward in an effort to 
drive back several Boer detachments 
that were operating against its right 
flank and menacing its line of commu« 
nications. 

The advance of two British divisions, 
numbering about ten thousand men, to 
the vicinity of Sauna's Post was appa- 
rently the first step in a flank move- 
ment by which Lord Roberts hoped to 
head off the Boer army, when it re- 
tired from Wepener, Dewetsdorp, Tha- 
ba Nehu and other points northward. 
Already Wepener had been abandoned 
by the Boers and the British garrison 
relieved. This would have been neces- 
sitated by the movements of the British 
forces toward Sauna's Post, even if no 
reinforcements had been sent to the 
Wepener garrison. 

But the Boer forces on the British 
flank were not yet captured or defeated. 
They still held the interior line, and 
threatened to concentrate for an attack 
upon some part of the net in which the 
British commander was trying to en- 
close them. 



PART V. 
MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS 

AND 

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES 

OP THE 

NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



<5 I HE electric telegraph, the subrna- 
* I rine cable, the telephone, the 
phonograph, wireless telegra- 
phy, the electric light and the many 
applications of electricity to locomotion, 
resulting in trolley cars, the automo- 
bile, etc. — these were all unknown at 
the beginning of the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury. It has been a century of marvels, 
of dazzling achievements by inventive 
genius, and its glory far surpasses that 
of any other hundred years since the 
dawn of history. The lightnings of 
heaven have been tamed and harnessed 
for the service of man. 

The electric telegraph must always 
be associated with the name of Professor 
Samuel F. B. Morse. He did not conceive 
the idea of using electricity for commu- 
nicating thought, but the practical ap- 
plication of electricity for this purpose, 
and the success of the wonderful under- 
taking are due to his inventive genius. 
Nothing in the way of invention has 
ever surpassed his triumph, norhas there 
been any other system of telegraphic 
signs and letters so perfect as his. He 

2'J 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Triumphs of Electricity.' 



left but meagre opportunity for inven- 
tors who should come after him, and 
yet we now have wireless telegraphy, 
that amazing triumph of inventive 
skill. 

Professor Morse was born at Charles- 
town, Massachusetts, on the 27th of 
April, 1791, and graduated at Yale 
College, 1810. In 1829 he went abroad 
for the purpose of completing his art 
studies. He remained in Europe for 
more than three years, residing in the 
principal cities of the Continent. Dur- 
ing his absence he was elected Professor 
of the Literature of the Fine Arts in the 
University of the City of New York. 
He set out on his return home to acc^^pt 
this professorship in the autumn oi 
1832, sailing from Havre on board the 
packet-ship Sully. 

Among his fellow-passengers were a 
number of persons of intelligence and 
cultivation, one of whom had but re- 
cently witnessed in Paris some highly 
interesting experiments of the electro- 
magnet, the object of which was to 
prove how readily the electric spark 

449 



450 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



could be obtained from the magnet, and 
the rapidity with which it could be 
disseminated. To most of the passen- 
gers this relation was deeply interest- 
ing, but to all save one it was merely 
the recital of a curious experiment. 
That one exception was Mr. Morse. To 
him the development of this newly- 
discovered property of electricity was 
more than interesting. It showed him 
his true mission in life — the way to his 
true destiny. Art was not his proper 
field now, for however great his abili- 
ties as an artist, he was possessed of 
genius of a higher, more useful type, 
and it was henceforth his duty to em- 
ploy it. He thought long and earnestly 
upon the subject which the words of his 
fellow-passenger had so freshly called 
up, pacing the deck under the silent 
stars, and rocked in his wakeful berth 
by the ocean whose terrors his genius 
was to tame, and whose vast depths his 
great invention was to set at naught. 

Morse's Alphabet. 

He had long been convinced that 
electricity was to furnish the means of 
rapid communication between distant 
points, of which the world was so much 
in need ; and the experiments which 
his new acquaintance had witnessed in 
Paris removed from his mind the last 
doubt of the feasibility of the scheme. 
Being of an eminently practical charac- 
ter, he at once set to work to discover 
how this could be done, and succeeded 
so well that before the Sully reached 
New York he had conceived not merely 
the idea of an electric telegraph, but of 
an electro-magnetic and chemical re- 
cording telegraph, substantially and 
essentially as it now exists, and had 
invented an alphabet of signs, the same 



in all important respects as that now in 
use. 

The testimony to the paternity of the 
idea in Morse's mind, and to his acts 
and drawings on board the ship, is am- 
ple. His own testimony is corroborated 
by all the passengers (with a single ex- 
ception), who testified with him before 
the courts, and was considered conclu- 
sive by the judges; and the date of 
1832 is therefore fixed by this evidence 
as the date of Morse's conception, and 
realization also — so far as the drawings 
could embody the conception — of the 
telegraph system which now bears his 
name. 

Patient Perseverence. 

But though invented in 1832, it was 
not until 1835 (during which time he 
was engaged in the discharge of the 
duties of his professorship in the Uni- 
versity of the City of New York) that 
he was enabled. to complete his first re- 
cording instrument. This was but a 
poor, rude instrument at the best, and 
was very far from being equal to his 
perfected invention. It embodied his 
idea, however, and was a good basis for 
subsequent improvements. By its aid 
he was able to send signals from a given 
point to the end of a wire half a mile in . 
length, but as yet there was no means of 
receiving them back again from the 
other extremity. 

He continued to experiment on his 
invention, and made several improve- 
ments in it. It was plain from the first 
that he needed a duplicate of his instru- 
ment at the other end of his wire, but 
he was unable for a long time to have 
one made. At length he acquired the 
necessary funds, and in July, 1837, had 
a duplicate instrument constructed, and 



MARVSIXOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



451 



thus perfected his plan. His telegraph 
now worked to his entire satisfaction, 
and he could easily send his signals to 
the remote end of his line and receive 
replies in return, and answer signals sent 
from that terminus. 

Having brought it to a successful 
completion, he exhibited it to large 
audiences at the University of New 
York, in September, 1837. In Oc- 
tober, 1837, Professor Morse filed a 
caveat to secure his invention, but 
his patent was not obtained until 
1840. 

Morse, in December, 1837, went 
to Washington to solicit from the 
Government an appropriation for 
the construction of an experimental 
line from Washington City to Bal- 
timore — a distance of forty miles. 

This line he declared would 
thoroughly test the practicability 
and utility of the telegraph. His 
petition was laid before Congress, 
and a committee appointed to con- 
sider it. He stated his plan to this 
body, and proved its practicability 
by actual experiments with his in- 
struments. Considerable interest 
the subject was thereby aroused 
Conijress and throug^hout the coun- 



of an experimental line between Balti- 
more and Washington. He had to en- 
counter a great degree of skepticism 
and ridicule, with many other obsta- 
cle?, not the least of which was the dif- 
ficulty of mee!.ing the expense of re- 
maining in Washington and urging his 
invention upon the Government. 

Still he persevered, although it 




m 
in 
try, but he derived no benefit from it. 

The session wore away in this man- 
ner, and at length ended without 
any action being taken in the mattei. 
At length, in 1840, he received his 
long-delayed patent from the Genera: 
Government, and, encouraged by this, 
determined to make another effort to 
oring his telegraph into use. 

He was not able to do so until the 
session of Congress of 1842-43, when he 
presented a second petition to that 



PROlflCSSOR SAMUEI, F. B. MORSE, 
INVENTOR OF THE EI.ECTRIC TEI.EGRAPH. 

seemed to be hoping against hope, as 
the session drew near its close, and his 
scanty stock of money grew daily 
smaller. On the evening of the 3d of 
March, 1843, he returned from the Cap- 
itol to his lodgings utterly disheartened. 
It was the last night of the session, and 
nothing had been done in the matter of 
his petition. He sat up late into the 
night arranging his aflfairs so as to take 
his departure for home on the following 
day. It was useless to remain in Wash- 
ington any longer. Congress would 
adjourn the next day, and his last hope 



body, asking its aid in the construction of success had been shattered. 



452 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



On the moruing of the 4th of March 
he came down to the breakfast-table 
gloomy and despondent. Taking up 
the morning journal, he ran over it 
listlessly. Suddenly his eye rested upon 
a paragraph which caused him to spring 
to his feet in complete amazement. It 
was an announcement that, at the very 




ELKCTRO TEIvBGRAPH MACHINERY. 

last hour of the session of the previous 
night, a bill had been passed by Con- 
gress appropriating the sum of thirty 
thousand dollars for the purpose of en- 
abling Professor Morse to construct an 
experimental line of telegraph between 
Baltimore and Washington. 

He could scarcely believe it real, 
and, as soon as possible, hastened to the 
Capitol to seek authentic information. 
The statement was confirmed by the 
proper authorities, and Morse's dearest 
wish was realized. The hour of his 
triumph was at hand, and his long and 
patient waiting was rewarded at last 

Work on the telegraph line was itu- 
mediately begun, and carried on ac- 
tively. At first an insulated wire was 
buried under ground in a lead pipe, but 
this failing to give satisfaction, the wire 
was elevated upon poles. On the 27th 
of May, 1844, the line was cOx^.^^Ieted, 
and the first trial of it made in the pres- 
ence of the Government officials and 
many other distinguished men. Pro- 
fessor Morse was confident of success; 



but this occasion was a period of the 
most intense anxiety to him, for he 
knew that his entire future was staked 
upon the result of this hour. 

Among the company present to wit- 
ness the trial was the Secretary of the 
Treasury, John C. Spencer. Although 
very much interested in the under- 
taking, he was 
entirely ignor- 
ant of the prin- 
ciples involved 
in it, and, there- 
fore, very ap- 
prehensive of its 
failure. It was 
upon this occa- 
sion that he 
asked one of Professor Morse's assistants 
how large a bundle could be sent over 
the wires, and if the United States 
mail could not be sent in the same way. 
When all was in readiness Professor 
Morse seated himself at the instrument 
and sent his first message to Baltimore. 
An answer was promptly returned, and 
messages were sent and replies received 
with a rapidity and accuracy which 
placed the triumph of the invention 
beyond the possibility of doubt. Among 
the first messages ever transmitted was 
the announcement of the nomination 
of James K. Polk for the presidency. 
Congratulations were showered upon 
the inventor, who received them as 
calmly as he had previously borne the 
scoffs of many of these same men. Yet 
his heart throbbed all the while with a 
brilliant triumph. Fame and fortune 
both rose proudly before him. He had 
won a great victory and conferred a 
lasting benefit upon his race. 

Professor Morse is also the inventor of 
submarine telegraphy. In 1842 he laid 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



453 



the first submarine telegraph line ever 
put dowu, across the harbor of New 
York, and for this achievement received 
the gold medal of the American Insti- 
tute. On the loth'of August, 1843, he 
addressed a communication to the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury in which he 
avowed his belief that a telegraphic 
cable could and would be laid across 
the Atlantic ocean for the purpose of 
connecting Europe and America. 

SUBMARIN 

In Febmary, 1854, Mr. Cyrus W. 
Field, of New York, ignorant of Pro- 
fessor Morse's views upon this subject, 
wrote to him to ask if he considered 
the working of a cable across the At- 
lantic practicable. The Professor at 
once sought an interview with Mr. 
Field, and assured him of his entire 
confidence in the undertaking. He 
entered heartily into Mr. Field's 
scheme, and rendered great aid in this 
noble enterprise. He was present at 
each attempt to lay the cable, and par- 
ticipated in the final triumph by which 
his prediction, made twenty-three years 
previous, was verified. 

The first Atlantic cable was laid in 
1858. After surmounting many obsta- 
cles and exhibiting a perseverence in 
the face of discouragements that com- 
manded admiration, Mr. Field and tlie 
four other gentlemen who were associ- 
ated with him, and had so much faith 
in the enterprise that they subscribed 
$1,500,000 to carry it through, suc- 
ceeded in connecting the two conti- 
nents and transmitting messages. Great 
was the rejoicing in both hemispheres, 
but after 271 messages had been sent 
the power of transmitting intelli- 
gence utterly ceased, owing to the 



His words upon this occasion clearly 
prove that the idea of the Atlantic 
telegraph originated with him. They 
were as follows : " The practical infer- 
ence from this law is that a telegraphic 
communication on the electro-magnetic 
plan may with certainty be established 
across the Atlantic ocean. Startling as 
this may now seem, I am confident the 
time will come when this project will be 
realized." 

E CABLES. 

employment of too high a battery 
power. 

In 1865, a cable having been con- 
structed and made as nearly perfect as 
possible by the use of the best materials, 
and by the most approved method of 
insulation, the steamship "Great East- 
ern," freighted with it, sailed from 
Valentia on the 23d of July. On th^, 
second day after starting from the Irish 
coast, a fault in the electric insulation 
of the cable was detected ; a tiny piece 
of loose iron wire had forced its way 
through the outer covering and the 
gutta-percha surrounding the electric 
wire, so as to come in contact with the 
latter; and, when this piece was cut 
out and a new splice made, the fault 
was effectively cured. 

The cable had again to be raised and 
examined in the same way on the 29th, 
when the ship was in two thousand 
fathoms water, six hundred and thirty- 
six miles from Valentia, and one thou- 
sand and twenty-eight miles from New- 
foundland. A total loss of electric in- 
sulation or ' ' dead earth," as it is called, 
was discovered about one o'clock that 
afternoon. The ship was stopped at 
once, and as soon as the picking-up 
machinery could be put in gear, the 



454 



MARVELLOU»i IWvI;]STlO^: Jll^iJ JilSQOVERIES. 



end of the cable was hauled in agaiu 
over the bows, and the faulty portion 
having been cut oflf and laid aside for a 
minute examination, the remainder was 
spliced afresh, and the operation of pay- 
ing-out over the stern of the ship was 
recommenced next morning. 

Soon after this it became necessary 
to "pick up" the cable to remedy a de- 
fect which the instruments had de- 
tected, when that memorable accident 
occurred which taxed the ingenuity of 
ihose on board to remedy it. The ma- 
chinery was still in motion, the cable 
iud the rope traveled aft together, one 
:o wards the capstan, the other towards 
ihe drum, when, just as the cable 
reached the dynamometer, it parted, 
thirty feet from the bow, and with one 
bound leaped, as it were, into the sea. 

Consternation on Board. 

For a moment dismay seized those on 
board. They were startled at the 
thought that the cable had parted and 
dropped into the sea. Nothing was to 
be done but to adjust the grappling ap- 
paratus and search for the losttreasuie. 
At first the iron sank but slowly, but 
soon the picking-up machinery lowered 
length after length over cog-wheel and 
drum, till the iron wires, warming with 
work, heated at last so as to convert 
the water thrown upon the machinery 
into clouds of steam. Still the rope 
descended, and the strain was dimin- 
ished, when at two thousand five hun- 
dred fathoms, or fifteen thousand feet, 
the grapnel reached the bed of the At- 
lantic; and as the ship drifted across 
the course of the cable, there was just a 
surmise that the grapnel might catch it. 

In the search from August 3d to 
August nth, the cable was grappled 



three xiiu^z ; it was lifted each time a 
considerable way from the bottom, but 
the grapnel, ropes and lifting machinery 
were not sufficient to bring it to the 
surface. Nearly twelve hundred miles 
of the cable now lay along the bed of 
the Atlantic Ocean ; one end attached 
to the shore at Valentia, the other sub* 
merged under nineteen hundred and 
fifty fathoms of water, and resting on a 
soft, oozy bottom. 

A length of fifty-five hundred miles 
of cable altogether had been made for 
this great Atlantic enterprise from 1858 
to 1865, and nearly four thousand miles 
had been swallowed up in the ocean ; a 
million and a quarter dollars had been 
sunk ; but the grand hopes were not 
crushed. The various telegraphic com- 
panies interested in the completion of 
the undertaking wisely concluded to 
resume operations forthwith. 

Locating the Cable. 

The storms of twelve months had 
passed over the cable before the prepa- 
rations were complete ; that it had not 
drifted was thoroughly believed. The 
naval commanders had made accurate 
observation of the exact latitude and 
longitude of the spot where the end of 
the cable finally disappeared in August, 
1865 ; and, as the same nautical instru- 
ments, applied in the same way, would 
find the same spot again, this was the 
test, and the only test relied on. 

The Great Eastern arrived on the 
1 2th of August at the cable-fishing 
ground. We have not space to detail 
the series of snatchings, losings, rais- 
ings and breakings, dodgings and fish- 
ings of the vessels engaged in this cable- 
craft, but pass on to the i6th, when 
^hile hauling up the grapnel the splice 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



i55 



between the grapnel-rope and the buoy- 
rope broke, and down went rope, grap- 
nel, cable and all. 

The position being a good one, an- 
other grapnel was put forth ; it was 
dragged ; the strain on the dynamo- 
meter (the instrument that shows the 
amount of force or weight pulling at 
the grapnel-rope, in addition to its own 
weight) indicated that the grapnel had 
got hold of the cable; it was hauled 
in; and lo ! on the i/tli up came to 
sight the actual cable itself! Nearly 
every one on board the ship crowded to 
the bows to see the grapnel come up 
over the water. 

The lost cable of 1865, lifted from its 
oozy bed two miles beneath the surface 
of the Atlantic Ocean, now made its ap- 
pearance, attached to the flukes of the 
grapnel, amid a spontaneous cheer ; the 
sound of this, however, had scarcely 
passed away when the fact became 



known that the cable had quietly and 
easily disengaged itself from the flukes 
and springs of the grapnel. 

The cable was found, not merely 
bodily, but with all its electric qualities 
in full efficieucy. The cable itself told 
the tale. There it was, the copper 
in the middle, then the gutta-percha, 
then the iron wires and then the outer 
covering of Manilla hemp. The prob- 
lem to be solved was, whether the cable 
after being twelve months at the bot- 
tom of the Atlantic, would transmit an 
electric message to Valentia. 

An operator applied the end of the 
cable to his delicate instruments, amid 
the breathless silence of those around 
him. Presently he took off his hat and 
gave a cheer — the cable spoke ! Human 
ingenuity and perseverence had tri- 
umphed. Since that day the ends of 
the earth have been brought near by 
submarine cables. 



THE TELEPHONE. 



Following the completion of the sub- 
marine cable, the next application of 
electricity that aroused universal in- 
terest resulted in the discovery and 
construction of the telephone. 

Suppose you want to communicate 
with your neighbor across the street ; a 
wire is stretched between the two 
houses and connected to the two tele- 
phones ; from the remaining binding 
screw of each telephone wires are con- 
ducted, say, to the gas-pipe, and the 
bare wire wound round the bare pipe, 
so that there may be metallic contact. 
Conversation may now be carried on as 
in the annexed figure. For short dis- 
tances you will perhaps find least difii- 
culty by using a double wire instead of 
connecting to the brass pipe, as the 



joints of the latter sometimes intercept 
altogether the flow of electricity. 

We already know that when sound- 
waves impinge on anything like the 
ferrotype plate of a telephone, such a 
plate is made to vibrate ; and a piece of 
iron like this vibrating in the neighbor- 
hood of a magnet will considerably dis- 
turb its lines of force. If these fluctu- 
ating lines of force, therefore, are crossed 
by rings of wire, currents of electricity 
will be generated in the wire. And so 
it is every time one speaks into a tele- 
phone, for electricity is generated and 
sent along the wire to the other end, in 
a direction which varies with the "in- 
and-out action of the telephone. 

You will clearly see, then, that elec- 
tricity is produced at the trcu?s?nitting 



456 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



end. What happens where the listener 
has his attentive ear to the telephone ? 
The electricity travels round the coil 
of the receiving telephone, and varies 
the magnetism of the bar within it, 
which in its turn varies its attraction 
upon the ferrotype plate beginning to 



ductor, a telegraphic wire, with elec- 
tricity for the driving force, is the best 
transmitter ever discovered. The tele- 
phone has rapidly sprung into use, and 
has become a necessity in our large 
towns, where, on account of the pres- 
sure of business, time is money and 




COMMUNICATING BY TELEPHONE. 



vibrate, and it vibrates in such a way as 
to reproduce the sounds which were 
spoken into the transmitting end. 

That we should ever be able to "talk 
by lightning ' ' was not dreamed of for 
many years after the discovery of the 
telegraph proved that messages could 
be transmitted through motions of the 
electric instrument producing signs. 
Now we do not have to write the com- 
munication, but can speak to a person 
many miles away, and converse almost 
as freely as we would with one by our 
side in the same room. 

The principle is that of the transmis- 
sion of sound. The air, the water, 
woods, metals are all conductors, but it 
has been proved that a metallic con- 



moments count for as much as hours 
did once. A man of business can call 
up his neighbor, who is near, or his 
customer miles away, and in a brief 
time the matter in hand is disposed of. 

The description of the instrument is 
as follows : An electro-magnet or spool 
of copper wire is fastened to the end of 
a steel bar which has been charged with 
magnetism ; the ends of the wire are 
carried down to the outer part of the 
rubber case, and connected by screws of 
the line wire. 

In front of the spool, and a little way 

from the end of the bar magnet, a piece 

of "ferrotype" sheet iron is placed. 

1 When a current of electricity is sent 

into the telephone and through the 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



457 



spool of wire, the sheet iron plate is 
caused to vibrate in unison with the 
breaking of the current, by reason of 
the alternate attractions and cessations 
of attraction of the plate by the electro- 
magnet, and a sound is produced, as 
already explained. 

The microphone is an instrument for 
intensifying and making audible very 
feeble sounds. It produces its effects 
by the change of intensity in an electric 
current, occasioned by variations in the 
contact resistance of conducting bodies. 
It has always been known that many 
solids are excellent conductors of sound. 
One of the little experiments of boy- 
hood is for one lad to hold his head 
under water while another, not far 
away, strikes two stones together under 
the surface. The water coming in close 
contact with the ear, and being a good 
conductor of sound, produces something 
in the nature of a shock, quite as start- 
ling as would be the firing of a pistol 
near one's head. This, it must be 
understood, is not the principle of the 
microphone or telephone. There must 
be a conductor for the electric current, 
but the current itself is indispensable. 

Thus, not only by the telegraph can 
words be transmitted, but also in a 
more direct way, and even the tones of 



the human voice can be distinguished. 
It is literally true that we talk by 



LtNB 




THE BELL TELEPHONE. 

lightning, and can speak to a listener 
a thousand miles away. The century 
has found in electricity its most mar- 
velous field of discovery. 



THE PHONOGRAPH. 



Another marvel of the century pro- 
duced through the agency of electricity 
is the phonograph. 

Very few, even of those who have 
heard the dulcet strains of some sweet 
song from the depths of the phonograph, 
understand in the least the mechanism 
by which the sounds arc produced. The 
explanation is as follows: The phono- 
graph is composed of a metal cylinder 



covered with a layer of wax, on which 
a pointed pen inscribes tracings, cor- 
responding to the vibrations caught by 
a membrane placed on the top of the pen. 
The wax-coated cylinder is rapidly 
revolved by means of an electric bat- 
tery, and as one speaks in front of the 
membrane, the cylinder advances slowly 
in a horizontal position, at the same 
time revolving rapidly. 



458 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERI±JS. 



The membrane vibrates much or lit- 
tle, according to the sounds emitted by 
the operator. The pen moves accord- 
ing to the vibrations, and peculiar, 
almost imperceptible tracings on the 
wax are the result. On top of the mcm- 



plied to their ears, as in the iliustra- 
tion. 

Not only jan we hear the sounds 
from the same phonograph into which 
they are spoken, but the cylinders may 
be preserved and taken wherever we 




MR. EDISON TAI^iirNG INTO THE PHONOGRAPH. 



brane ir> a funnel into which the opera- 
tor speaks. 

To obtain reprodiictions of the rounds 
as inscribed on the wax cylinder, it {c 
replaced in its original position. An- 
other pen of different constructiou than 
the first is put into play, and in a most 
exact and delicate manner transfers to 
the wax of another cylinder the tracings 
on the first. The funnel is replaced by 
a rubber tube having two, four or six 
branches, according to the number of 
the auditors, and the tubes a.r^ ^p' 



wish ; by placing them again in a me- 
chanism as above described, the origi- 
nal sounds may be reproduced. 

In this manner are made the piiono- 
graphs found in many hotels and pub- 
lic plaices. The first cylinder is care- 
fully made as above described, and du* 
plicated as many times as required. 
Each cylinder is then placed in a case, 
and the phonograph may be put in use 
when required. 

The new and perfected Edison plion- 
ograph has already gone into very gen^ 



MARVEIyLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



459 



eral use, and many thousands are dis- 
tributed in American business offices, 
where they facilitate correspondence in 
a variety of ways. They are employed 



peated into the machine by the reporter 
as quickly as they were uttered by the 
various speakers. A large number of 
machines are in use by actors, clergy- 




i<iste;ning 'To sounds from 

by stenographers as a help in the tran- 
scription of their shorthand notes. 
Heretofore these notes have been slowly 
dictated to amanuenses, but they are 
now frequently read off to a phonograph 
and then written out at leisure. 

The phonograph is, however, being 
used for direct stenographic work, and 
it reported verbatim forty thousand 
words of discussion at one presidential 
convention, the words being quietly re- 



the; phonograph. 

men, musicians, reciters and others, to 
improve their elocution and singing. 
It is also worthy of note that voice 
records remain of distinguished men, 
who "being dead, yet speak." 

The phonograph faithfully repro- 
duces music, whistling, singing, speech, 
or any sounds, and the phonograms 
can be packed into a mailing tube and 
sent all over the world to be used as 
often as desired. 



EDISON'S KINETOSCOPE, 



Perhaps the simplest statement of 
the principle upon which this instru- 



ment is constructed, would be to call 
it the reproduction of motion. The 



460 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



observer looks thiougli a glass into a 
small cabinet and appears to see living 
figures. These may be men or animals, 
and they are in action. Just as the 
phonograph makes a faithful record 
of sounds, so the kinetoscope gives us 
a reproduction of the action of living 
creatures. 

The following is what Mr. Edison 
himself says on the subject: "In the 
year 1887 the idea occurred to me that | 
it was possible to devise an instrument 
which should do for the eye what the 
phonograph does for the ear, and that 
by a combination of the two all motion 
and sound could be recorded and repro- 
duced simultaneously. This idea, the 
germ of which came from the little toy 
called the zoetrope, and the work of 
Muybridge, Marie and others, has now 



been accomplished, so that every change 
of facial expression can be recorded and 
reproduced life size. The kinetoscope 
is only a small model illustrating the 
present stage of progress, but with each 
succeeding month new possibilities are 
brought into view. 

"I believe that in coming" years, by 
my own work and that of others, who 
will doubtless enter the field, grand 
opera can be given at the Metropolitan 
Opera House at New York, without 
any material change from the original, 
and with artists and musicians long 
since dead." 

After the instrument was perfected 
the succession of pictures was found to 
be rapid, and those instruments exhi- 
bited in nearly all our towns are found 
to work most satisfactorily. 



THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 



The applications of electricity during 
the century have revealed wonders not 
dreamed of in ordinary human philoso- 
phy. The problem, long studied by 
scientists, of procuring from this sub- 
tle force in nature a light that would be 
of service and outstrip all other means 
of illumination has been solved, and in 
every town now, of any dimensions, 
electric lighting is in successful opera- 
tion. 

Pure incandescence is represented by 
four systems— Edison, Maxim, Swan 
and L,ane Fox. The light from this 
description of lamp is from the heating 
of a carbon filament due to its high re- 
sistance to the passage of the current. 
This filament is surrounded by a her- 
metically sealed glass bulb from which 
all the air h°as been extracted. 

The life of the lamp depends greatly 
as to how carefully this process has 



been carried on. It is not sufficient 
only to extract the air when the lamp 
is cold, but the process must be carried 
on, when the lamp is burning, and the 
exhaustion must be continuous for 
some time. These lamps can be worked 
either by an alternating or a continu- 
ous current machine ; and, unlike those 
of partial incandescence, require a ten- 
sion current, while the former work 
I best with a quantity one. 

The Edison lamp is generally con- 
sidered to be the pioneer of this system 
of illumination. Whether this be so 
or not the name of the inventor has 
been for a considerable time associated 
with lighting by incandescence, al- 
though his early experiments were with 
a lamp containing a metallic sub- 
stance. The lamp consists of a blown 
glass globe containing a very fine fila- 
ment made from the fibre of bamboo 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



461 



carbonized. The length is fixed ac- 
cording to the resistance required. 

Each end of tlie filament is nipped 
between a miniature vise composed of 
platinum connected with the terminals 
of the lamp. These are fixed in an in- 
sulated socket, which also holds the 
glass bulb. The socket is furnished 
with a screw which fits into a projec- 
tion on the bracket or holder, so that 
the act of screwing in the lamp makes 
the necessary connection with the con- 
ducting wires. 

Distribution of Current. 

By turning a tap the lamp can be re- 
moved without interrupting the pas- 
sage of the current. The maximum 
duration of the lamp is stated to be 
twelve hundred hours. The chief fea- 
ture of the Edison system is the manner 
in which the inventor distributes the 
current from a main generator of his 
own design, which is always used with 
this system of lighting. 

The engraving on next page is a per- 
fect representation of Edison's latest 
electric lamp, with its various parts 
shown in detail. Fig. i shows the car- 
bon horseshoe ready for use, full size ; 
Fig. 2 represents the horseshoe when 
just cut from the Bristol board, illus- 
trating, by its comparison with Fig. i, 
the enormous shrinkag-e it undergoes 
during the process of carbonization. 

The only index to the completion of 
this process is the crackling of the oxide 
formed on the exterior of the iron boxes 
in which the horseshoes are placed. 
After their removal from the boxes the 
carbons are placed between the jaws of 
small platinum vises, a, a, supported 
on thin platinum wires blown in the 
glass base and forming the electrodes. 



The resistance of the slender horseshoe 
is one hundred ohms. ; and while the 
lamp shown, Fig. 3, is intended to give 
a light equivalent to a single four-foot 
gas jet, it may be forced to give a light 
equal to eight or ten of such jets. 

The carbons are so tough that one of 
them has been subjected to the test of 
applying and removing the electric cur- 
rent a number of times equivalent to 
thirty-six years of actual daily use, and 
without being in the least impaired. 
The horseshoe form of the carbon has a 
great advantage over the voltaic arc, 
the light being softer, more diffused and 
less trying to the eyes. It is, besides, 
perfectly uniform and steady. The 
lamps are connected in multiple arc, — 
that is, the two wires leading from the 
electrical generator run parallel to each 
other, and the lamps are placed between 
them and are connected with each wire. 

Lamps and Wires. 
The entire lighting apparatus of any 
building consists in the lamps and a 
few wires. The lamp in its present 
form is as .simple and as easily handled 
as a candle, and can be taken from its 
socket and replaced even while the cur- 
rent is on. The construction of this 
socket is shown in Fig. 4. The lamp 
has, attached to its electrodes, slips of 
copper which are bent up against the 
sides of the glass, touching two springs 
at opposite sides of the socket. One of 
these springs is connected with one of 
the electrical conductors ; the other 
merely touches the copper strip, and^ 
does not form a part of the electrical 
conductor until it is touched by the 
thumb-screw, b^ this latter being con- 
nected with the second electrical con- 
ducting wire. To start the light it is 



462 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



only necessary to turn the screw, b^ 
till it touches the spring. To stop the 
light the screw is turned in the reverse 

^5. 



become one of the world's great bene- 
factors. The use of the electric light 
has far exceeded the use of gas durino- 




Sdison's marvejIvIvOus incandescent lamp 



direction. From this it is obvious that 
an electric lamp is more easily managed 
than a gas burner, as it requires neither 
lighting nor regulating ; while it is 
equally plain that these lamps, having 
withstood the test of time, the inventor 
has solved a profound problem, and 



the same period of time after the intro- 
duction of each. Many of the largest 
factories and public buildings are now 
lighted by electricity, and even in coun- 
try villages and towns everywhere the 
electric light has been introduced into 
private residences. The time is doubt- 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



468 



less not far distant when it will be the 
means for almost universal illumination. 
Electrical apparatus is constantly being 



perfected, and in no branch of science 
have more rapid strides been made than 
in this. 



RIFLES FIRED BY ELECTRICITY. 



The practice of firing big guns by 
electricity is already well established, 
but hitherto no practical attempt has 
been made to explode the shells of 
small arms electrically. An electric 
rifle has been designed in which 
it is sought to carry out this prin- 
ciple. 

The source of the current is a bat- 
tery, A, which is fitted into the 
stock either from the side or from 
the ends. The holes B B are con- 
nected to springs C C from which 
the wires D D run respectively to a 
spring M, bolted at I to the lock plate, 
and to the insulated hammer H fixed 
on the upper part of the trigger G. 
Q is the shell, containing an insu- 
lated pin, the head of which, O, pro- 
jects beyond the base of the shell. If 
necessary, two pins can be placed pa- 
rallel with each other and insulated 
until their points nearly meet. Between 
the base of the cartridge and the ham- 
mer is a pin K encircled by a spring and 
riveted into a cross plate J at one end, 
the other end being fitted into an insu- 
lated thimble L, the point of which 



nearly touches the shell pin head O. 
When the cartridge has been inserted 
and the gun closed, the spring M rests 
on the metal base of the cartrido^e. 
As the trigger is pulled the hammer 




EIIvECTRIC RIPI,E. 

strikes the plate J, forcing the point of 
the thimble h into contact with the 
projecting end O of the cartridge pin. 
An arc is established at P O, which ex- 
plodes the contents of the cartridge. 

The point of the firing pin P can be 
placed anywhere within the explosive 
powder of the cartridge, but by extend- 
ing it near the bullet, as shown in the 
illustration, a more effective explosion 
of the powder is secured. 

At the end of the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury messages could be sent across 
space, over water and through buildings 
and mountains without the aid of wires- 



WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. 



Professor Gray devised a method of 
sending signals along light waves, and 
others tried transmitting telegrams to 
moving trains by means of the rails. 
These methods, however, were not suc- 
cessful in the main, and it was left for 
M. Guiglielmo Marconi, a Florentine 
yet in his twenties, to discover that 
Hertzian waves could be generated from 



electricity and sent across space with 
out the means of intervening wires. 

In 1895, while yet quite young, Mar- 
coni made experiments across his fa- 
ther's fields in Bologna, Italy, and b' 
the use of tin boxes, called "capaci- 
ties," set upon poles of varying height, 
and connected to separate instruments 
by insulated wires, he sent and received 



464 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



by a crude transmitter and receiver 
electrical signals without the aid of in- 
tervening wires. He soon learned that 
certain distances could be covered only 
by having the poles for his boxes of 
certain height, and the height of the 
poles had to be increased with the dis- 
tance. He experimented with the aid 
of several other scientists for some time, 
and then the world was startled early 
in 1899 by the news that messages had 
been sent by this wireless method across 
the English Channel from Dover to 
Boulogne. 

Little had been known up to that 
time of the process, but enthusiasm was 
now expressed everywhere, and when, 
in October of the same year, the young 
wizard came across to America to re- 
port the great international yacht races 
between the Columbia and the Sham- 
rock, for the New York papers, and 
succeeded so admirably that messages 
were flashed across space when both 
yachts and sending ship were enveloped 
by fogs and out of sight of land, it was 
manifest that another epoch-making 
discovery had been made. 

Strange Impulses. 
The method employed by Marconi 
seems quite simple when it is known. 
Hertzian waves are strange undulations 
generated by electric impulse that tra- 
vel through the atmosphere and have 
the peculiar property of jumping from 
the Marconi transmitter and fleeing 
through space at the speed of light, or 
seven times around the earth in a se- 
cond. When Marconi understood that 
these beams could be sent and received 
by his first crude method, he at once 
set to work on improvements, and the 
following system has been the result. 



Two tall poles are erected, one at the 
sending and one at the receiving sta- 
tion. From these poles are supported 
sprits, along each of which runs an or- 
dinary copper wire extending vertically 
from the telegraph instruments into the 
air. The upper portion of the wire is 
bare, so that the waves of energy may 
leap off into space as they are sent up 
the wire by the operation of the instru- 
ment below. This instrument is sim- 
ply a large induction coil connected 
with a strong battery. 

Sending the Message. 

To the coil are also attached two 
brass knobs (some distance apart), from 
the space between which, when the cur- 
rent is on, leaps a stream of sparks, the 
same as those produced in experiments 
with the X-ray. Now, when a message 
is being sent, the transmitting wire is 
charered with a current of electricitv at 
high tension, which naturally rushes 
toward the earth. This discharge causes 
a rapid oscillation in the wire as long 
as the current continues. This oscilla- 
tion must have an outlet, and, accord- 
ingly, leaves the wire for its journey 
across space. This agitation, when it 
reaches the receiving instrument, pro- 
duces an opening and closing of the 
circuit accordingly as the waves are con- 
tinuous or cut short. 

To use a simple example, let us sup- 
pose we have a string hanging loose 
from the ceiling. Now take a fan and 
wave the air. The result is the string 
is blown back. Make several motions 
with the fan at short intervals, and the 
string will respond to the air waves. 
This is similar to what occurs in Mar- 
coni's telegraphing process. He has a 
switch connected with the sending in- 



MARVElvLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



465 



Strument, and as lie opens or closes 
this a stream of electrical sparks fol- 
lows. It may readily be seen, then, 
that as these sparks impart the waves 
to the transmitting wire, a short one 
would send a short wave across to the re- 
ceiver, and a long stream would produce 
a long set of waves. That is just what 
happens. 

Hard Problem Solved. 

When this much of the system was 
perfected, it was necessary to arrange 
some device whereby the gentle oscil- 
lations might be received and interpre- 
ted into messages. Here was a hard 
task, but it was successfully wrought 
out. In a metal box, that keeps out to 
a great extent the Hertzian waves, is a 
relay instrument, two devices called a 
"coherer" and a "tapper," and a 
Morse instrument for printing dots and 
dashes connected to a home battery. 

The "coherer" is the principal and 
most delicate of all these instruments, 
and upon its action depends the suc- 
cess of the sending operation. It con- 
sists of a tiny glass tube about as thick 
as that of a thermometer and two in- 
ches long. In either end is a small 
plug of silver, attached to the aerial 
wire on the pole outside and to a wire 
connected with the relay instrument. 
It must be understood that a wave so 
delicate in its impulse would not be 
able to operate a machine of itself; it is 
only strong enough to give the im- 
pulse that will complete the circuit of 
the home battery, and the latter then 
works the writing machine. 

But how can this impulse be given 
in dots and dashes of the Morse tele- 
graph code ? Simply enough, when 
oce knows how; and here came in Mar- 
30 



coni's greatest discovery. He learned 
that nickel and silver were alternately 
good and bad conductors of the Hert- 
zian waves : good when welded to- 
gether by a continuous current, but bad 
when severed into particles by a blow 
from his little "tapper." Hence, he 
contrived an arrangement of very tiny 
particles of nickel and silver dust, — 
siftings through silk, — and placed them 
between the silver plugs of his " co 
herer. " 

Now, when a wave impelled by a 
single spark from the transmitter is 
received by the vertical wire hanging 
in space from the pole of the receiving 
station, it comes down through the 
"coherer," and the tiny particles of 
nickel and silver cohere (hence the 
name), the current is imparted to the 
battery that sets the Morse instrument 
to printing a dot. 

Completing the Circuit. 

To explain more clearly just the uses 
of the "coherer" and the "tapper," 
we must remember that the power of 
the Hertzian wave is very slight; in 
fact, it could create no electrical dis- 
turbance were it not for its property of 
welding together the nickel and silver 
filings in the " coherer." What it can 
do, however, is to complete the circuit 
that will operate the relay instrument. 
Let us imagine the circuit of the relay 
is like an electric door-bell. 

Well, the coherer is in the place of 
the push-button. As long as the filings 
are separate there is no sound, for the 
circuit is not complete. But let a Hert- 
zian wave strike the coherer and the 
filings are welded together, the circuit 
is completed, and the relay instrument 
gives the sufficient electrical energy to 



466 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



operate the writing machine or tickc^r. 
But so long as the filings in the coherer 
are in cohesion the instrument will 
keep up one continuous buzz ; hence 
no intelligible signals could be sent. 
Here is where Marconi made use of his 
Decoherer or " Tapper." 

Little but Mighty. 

It is no more than a little hammer 
attached to an electro-magnet, which, 
when operated by electricity, will tap 
against the coherer the same as the tap- 
per of an electric bell ; and this blow 
decc^eres the filings. Now, when the 
Hertzian wave reaches the receiving 
station it rushes down to the coherer, 
the filings are welded together, the cir- 
cuit is completed, and the instrument 
ticks oflf its dot. At this instant the 
relay instrument has also sent a current 
to the electro-magnet of the tapper. 
The magnet draws back the little ham- 
mer and lets it strike the coherer, the 
filings are separated, and the station is 
ready to receive at once the next 
flash. 

Each succession of waves produce 
the same effect, and the operation is 
repeated, the result, being an intelli- 
gible series of dots and dashes which 
are readily translated into their proper 
meaning. 

Messages by wireless telegraphy have 
already been sent with accuracy up to 
I lO miles, of which sixty were over 
water and the rest over l?>ud. Messa- 
ges are not lost by the curvature of the 
earth, which is about i,ood feet in 
eighty miles, and they work all right 
from a wire 130 feet high. Weather 
conditions cannot- interfere, nor can the 
messages be stolen, for the reason that 
the transmitters and receivers must be 



in "tune," — that is, they must work 
in harmony. This makes it almost im- 
possible for the receiver to take a mes- 
sage not intended for him. 

The electric waves do not seem to be 
impeded by buildings or hills in the 
intervening space, for experiments 
have shown that messages sent to given 
destinations, between which and the 
sender were high hills, buildings, etc., 
have been accurately received. Whe- 
ther the Hertzian waves go through or 
around the intercepting object has not 
yet been ascertained. 

Quite Inexpensive. 

The principal cost of installing a 
wireless telegraph plant is that of the 
poles, the receivers costing only about 
$60. The expense of maintaining the 
electrical current is nominal. Each 
station has both a sending and a re- 
ceiving instrument, one being turned 
oflf when the other is in operation. Mes- 
sages can now be sent at the rate of 
twenty-five words a minute, so it may 
readily be seen that when the system is 
still more perfect, it may threaten the 
established telegraph lines. Imagine 
another Eiffel tower on this side of the 
Atlantic, with sending and receiving 
stations here and at Paris. The ex- 
pense of laying and operating the great 
submarine cables would be entirely 
done away with. 

Already the system is in use on light- 
ships, connecting them with the life- 
saving stations on shore, and many 
lives and much property have been 
saved by its use. What, then, if every 
ship or train had these instruments ? 
Accidents might be avoided, news im- 
parted without stopping, directions 
given for war vessels' manoeuvres, and 



MARVELLOJS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



461 



countless ether similar uses. Marconi 
predicted that some of the greatest im- 
provements in this line were yet to 
come. He devised a sort of reflector 
that concentrates the waves; and shoots 
them in one direction, like a search- 
light, so that they may be directed at 
will, and only to certain spots. 



He also planned an arrangement that 
will tell from what direction a message 
comes. He thought it possible to ar- 
range a set of senders and receivers and 
so manipulating them for subscribers 
that the news of the day can be tele- 
graphed all over the country, thus doing 
away with newspapers. 



AUTOMOBILES, MOTO-CARS AND OTHER 
AUTOMATIC VEHICLES. 



Though the manufacture and use of 
self-propelling vehicles are yet in their 
infancy, the industry is growing to 
such an enormous size that it is taking 
in half the carriage and wagon factories 
in this country. For many years at- 
tempts have been made to solve the 
problem of propelling wagous, car- 
riages and other vehicles along the 
highways without the use of rails to 
run upon, and by some sucli motive 
power as steam, compressed air or elec- 
tricity. 

By 1895 a few verv expensive loco- 
motive-like aflfairs had been 'nirned out 
that operated with great fuss and fea- 
ther, but were successful to the extent 
that large manufacturers eanployed 
skilled inventors to work our new ideas. 
In the last year of the centuiy we had 
the industry growing to greaL size, and 
self-moving cars, wagons, trucks and 
carriages being used universc.lly in the 
large cities, with the prospect of their 
invading the realm of the horse in the 
country before many years„ 

France took the lead in the use of 
these contrivances, and formed a fash- 
ionable automobile club numbering 
1 , 700. An exposition was held in which 
1,100 vehicles were shown, represent- 
ing every sort and kind from a fashion- 
able brougham to a milk-peddler's cart. 



The motive power in most of these ma- 
chines is gasoline or naphtha, while 
those England has been putting out 
run mostly by steam. It has been left 
to America, as in most other things, to 
bring forth the perfect electric carriage. 
And this latter kind seems to give bet- 
ter satisfaction than any other, by rea- 
son of its safety, endurance and speed, 
extensive orders from Europe being 
proo/ of acceptance of the Am.erican 
models abroad. 

Tc- be woithy of consideration, the 
modciii inoior vehicle, no matter what 
its method of propulsion, should be 
odorless, almost noiseless, and free from 
jolting. Methods that are likely to re- 
sult Hi explosions are being cast aside, 
and the weight of the motor, which is 
at present rather great, is being re- 
duced as much as possible. Most of 
the carriages look odd to one seeing 
them for the first time, for, having no 
shafts or poles, they appear "bobbed " 
off in front. 

They are also too high for self-pro^ 
pelled vehicles, but soon they will have 
more graceful outlines and by having 
smaller wheels and less gearing the 
body of the vehicle will be nearer the 
giound. Of course, when a horse was 
altached to draw the wagon, it was 
n-cessary . that the wheels be high 



468 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



enough so that the rider could see over 
the horse's back. And when these 
new methods for travel were first at- 
tempted, the carriage as it had been 
was made use of without much change 
in appearance. 

In America, altogether there are six 
motive powers employed : electricity, 
steam, gasoline, compressed air, car- 
bonic-acid gas and alcohol. The first 
three have been applied with success ; 
the others are in their infancy, while 
the new power generator, liquid air, is 
expected to bring forth great power 
ere long, in a compact and very light 
form. 

Motor on WheelSo 
The electric mobile is the one in most 
common use in this country, and pos- 
sibly has the combined qualities of 
being more rapid, cleaner, and more 
nearly "fool-proof" than any other. 
The method employed for its construc- 
tion is similar to that used on any elec- 
trically-driven apparatus ; namely, a 
strong motor attached to the wheels, 
and propelled by electricity from stor- 
age batteries carried on the vehicle. 
Such a motor is odorless, almost with- 
out vibration, and is practically noise- 
less. It can run with great speed, and 
climb almost any hill road so long as 
it is smooth. Of course, it is very 
heavy, owing to the use of storage bat- 
teries, and it can run only a certain dis- 
tance without being recharged with 
electricity. .^ 

These batteries weigh from 500 to 
1,500 pounds each, the vehicle weighing 
from 900 to 4,000 pounds. An ordinary 
lady's phaeton weighs about a ton, and 
carries a battery of 900 pounds. When 
the battery is empty it may be re- 



charged again at electrical stations 
maintained for the purpose, after which 
the carriage is ready for its journey once 
more. The current not only operates 
the motor at the wheels, but also lights 
the lamps, rings the alarm gong, and, 
in cabs, actuates a push-button bell for 
communication between the passenger 
and driver. 

Levers and Switches. 

Aside from the device for supplying 
power to the wheels, there are numerous 
others for guiding and controlling the 
machine when it is under way. Near the 
seat of the driver are a number of 
switches and levers, which to one just 
learning how they operate are rather 
bewildering. In fact, schools are main- 
tained where persons are taught how to 
manage these roadsters. In France a 
special highway is prepared with dummy 
figures in the path where the beginner 
is learning, the object being to become 
so proficient that none will be knocked 
down by the carriage running away. 

The driver must keep his eyes wide 
open and both his feet and hands busy. 
With his left hand he grasps the power 
lever which controls the speed, while 
with the right he manages the steering 
lever. He has one heel all the time on 
an emergency switch that cuts off the 
current, and at the same time must ring 
a gong to warn people of the approach 
of his pneumatic-tired conveyance. 
With the other foot he manages a 
reversing-switch that will back the, car- 
riage, while with his toes he applies a 
quick brake. When he wishes to- turn 
on the lights he presses a button under 
the seat. So it may be seen that he is 
rather busy, and can never go to sleep 
and let the old horse carry him home. 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



469 



In all the large cities lines of these 
electric cabs have been established. 
Most of them run from twenty to thirty 
miles without new current. It is a sim- 
ple matter to recharge the storage bat- 
teries. All that is necessary is to put 
in a plug connecting it with the gener- 
ator, somewhat after the fashion of a 
bicycle pump. This may be done at 
almost any electrical plant, and in some 
places, Belgium for instance, regular 
posting stations are established, while 
coin-in-the-slot "pumps" will soon be 
arranged on the corners of city streets 
where a broken-down battery may be 
refilled. 

Successful Motor. 

The gasoline motors are in some ways 
inferior to those run by electricity ; 
though all the long-distance races in 
Europe have been made in vehicles 
thus propelled. This motor is lighter 
than the other kind and needs no 
recharging station, gasoline being pro- 
curable at any crossroads at a small 
price. On the other hand, these en- 
gines are not self-starting, a push on the 
piston rod being necessary, and then the 
carriaofe throbs under the motion of the 
machinery. The ins and outs of all the 
machinery must be thoroughly learned, 
and one really becomes an experienced 
engineer before he masters the art of 
guiding this sort of automobile. 

When one has learned, however, he 
is master of the situation, for he may 
travel up to fifty miles an hour on 
smooth roads, and through mud and 
other difficulties at less speed, with the 
aid only of a can of gasoline. 

The process of power generation by 
gasoline is very simple. It is known 
that this liquid mixed with certain 



quantities of air and confined will, when 
ignited, explode with violence. A cyl- 
inder is devised which admits this com- 
bination at one end, the gas is exploded 
at the proper time and drives out the 
piston rod, w^hich in turn causes the fly- 
wheel to revolve, drawing the piston 
back to its old place once more, after 
which the operation is repeated. 

Pour Impulses. 

Most of these engines operate undei 
four cycles or impulses. During tlie 
first the vapor is drawn into the cylin- 
der ; during the second it is compressed 
by the return piston ; during the third 
it is exploded, and in the fourth the 
products of the explosion are driven 
out, and the cylinder is ready for the 
new charge. 

In most engines the explosion is 
caused by an electric spark, there being 
no fire on the vehicle. Owing to the 
heat generated by the explosions going 
on all the time, the machinery must be 
kept cool by being cased in water jack- 
ets. In some cases the spark is done 
away with by having the compression 
of the gasoline so great that it explodes 
of its own heat. Different devices are 
made for mixing the proper quantities 
of gasoline and air, and many improve- 
ments are going on in general to do 
away with odors, vibrations and the like. 

The cost of owning and operating 
automobiles for a period of several years 
is really considerably less than that of 
horses and carriage, and especially is 
this true of the gasoline kind. Many of 
the gasoline vehicles will run lOO miles 
on a half-dollar's worth of liquid. 

Steam engines have been used to 
some extent for both trucks and pleas- 
ure vehicles with success. For the lat- 



470 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



ter, however, they are not as yet in the 
stage where they are desirable, there 
being a great deal of complicated ma- 
chinery to run which requires a regu- 
larly licensed engineer ; and th-en there 
is generally a puffing sound and escap- 
ing steam at the exhaust pipe. How'- 
ever, for traction engines, trucks, fie- 
engines and omnibuses, they have 
proved eminently successful, becauro of 
the ease with which fuel and water nvjy 
be had. 

As yet, compressed air is rather cum- 
bersome to handle. One truck has been 
constructed which has a set of cylind'^rs 
operated by this method somewhr/r after 
the style of steam. The compressed air 
is held in huge steel storage botrles or 
tubes, which are carried under the 
wagon. Difficulty has been hac- liom 
the freezing of the valves when vlic air 
is turned on and escapes rapidly. ""J^his 
is because of the great reduction ';i the 
temperature about the pipes when the 
air expands and sucks up latent hca t. 

Keeping Up Hear. 

To avoid this a system of hot-wa'cr 
pipes heated by a gasoline flame is r r- 
ranged, that keeps the valves from cool- 
ing too much. Because ot the great 
weight of these trucks they have not 
been extensively used. However, im- 
provements are being made daily. One 
inventor arranged a small gasoline en- 
gine that generates electricity in the 
front of a truck and stores it in batteries 
at the back. From these storage bat- 
teries the current is drawn which runs 
an electrical motor. This truck weighs, 
however, over 9,000 pounds, and when 
loaded about 25,000 pounds, making it 
a seiious question for good pavements. 

The uses to which automobiles are 



put are rumerous and varied. All sorts 
o^ pleasu re vehicles are in use, together 
v-ith cob and omnibus lines in competi- 
tion with street car lines. A railway 
hand-car has been put in use, of the 
gasoline velocipede type, capable of 
carrying three persons at the rate of 
thirty-two miles an hour. 

Fire Automobile. 

The Parisian fire department uses an 
electric automobile the battery of which 
is only one-fifth the weight of the whole 
apparatus including the crew. It is 
capable of traveling four or five hours 
at the rate of twelve miles an hour. In 
other fire departments many of the light 
buggies of the chiefs and marshals are 
driven by electricity, and run from forty 
to fifty miles per day. 

The post offices of several of the larger 
cities employ autowagons for deliver- 
ing and picking up mail, while nearly 
all the great department stores use elec- 
tric wagons exclusively in their delivery 
business. The War Department at 
Washington took official cognizance of 
the automobile by ordering several wag- 
ons for the Signal Corps, and ambulance 
and ammunition wagons complete the 
list. 

It may readily be imagined what will 
be the outcome of these marvellous 
strides in perfecting self-propelling ve- 
hicles. It means better pavements and 
roads all over the country, and in the 
city, the noises from the harsh rumb* 
lingf of wheels and the crash of horses' 
hoof will be replaced by the rapid 
swish of the pneumatic tires. 

In the last year of the century capital 
to the amount of $400,000,000 has been 
invested in the manufacture of these 
vehicles in New York, Chicago, Boston 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



471 



and Philadelphia. Laws became neces- 
sary for their regulation. In France 
they mnst be licensed, and the driver 
must have a certificate of proficiency. 
Speed must not exceed i8}4 miles an 
hour in open country, or 12% miles in 
passing houses, while in narrow thor- 



oughfares it must be reduced to walking 
pace. All sorts of names have been 
l^roposed for this style of vehicle, from 
"horseless wagon" to "self-propeller" 
and "autocar." It seems, however, 
that the French "automobile" has 
come to stay. 



^A/'ONDERS OF THE ELECTRICAL WORLD. 



Aside from such marvellous discover- 
ies as the wireless telegraph, the X-rays 
and the uses to which electricity has 
been put as a motive power, many minor 
experiments have been made which are 
rapidly bringing this weird fluid nearer 
and nearer to our daily life, both for 
comfort and for money-making. The 
United States, as in most other things, 
is taking the lead in this important 
work. Daily we are shipping to Europe 
and the Orient motors and electrical 
storage outfits in great numbers. 

While in many instances the Ameri- 
can trolley system of street cars was 
fruitful of dangerous accidents, never- 
theless it has been rapidly taken up in 
Europe. Electrical plows are installed 
on the larger farms, and lighting by 
electricity is almost universal. The 
success of nsing water power at Niagara 
and elsewhere for generating this force 
is remarkable, and the use of the tides 
about Manhattan Island, upon which 
New York City is situated, for this 
purpose has been advanced as tenable. 

Telegraphing 100,000 Words an 
Hour. 

In telegraphing many improvements 
have been made, among others being 
one system whereby the wires are at- 
tached to a sort of electrical typewriter, 
which, upon being operated, sets in 
motion a similar machine at the other 



end. The benefit of this system is that 
the operator does not need to be ac- 
quainted with any particular method, 
any one who is able to spell being com- 
petent to work the machine. 

Another invention in this line is a 
method of perforating strips of paper 
with a machine similar to a typewriter, 
and then placing these strips in the 
sending device, which transmits the 
messages at the rate of 100,000 words 
an hour. This is a marvellous speed, 
and where the time is saved is that a 
number of men can be set to work at 
one time perforating the strips before 
using the wire for sending. The bene- 
fit to be derived from such a system is 
that there would be a great saving in 
laying additional lines, for once the 
strips are prepared the sending occu- 
pies the line but a few moments. 

Picture Telegraphy. 

Sending pictures by wire has at last 
come so near to perfection that it is 
being nsed to some extent in detective 
work. The method used is called tele- 
pantography. By it an engraving or 
artist's sketch may be sent over almost 
any distance by common telegraph com- 
munication. If a picture is to be trans- 
mitted it must be first treated to a pro- 
cess similar to that for a half-tone en- 
graving. A metal plate is made, very 
thin so that it may be bent round like 



472 



MARVELLOUS INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES. 



the cylinder of a phonograph. The 
plate is slipped on the transmitting 
machine, and a tiny needle on this de- 
vice traces over all the lines in the 
metal plate, in this way sending im- 
pressions to a cylinder at the other end 
of the line, about which is wrapped a 
coil of paper. An inked needle at the 
receiving end traces the lines as they 
are telegraphed, and a complete repro- 
duction of the original picture is the 
result. 

Plants Grown by Electricity. 

The qualities of electricity, though, 
when in the form of lightning and 
strong direct currents readily take life, 
are such that in other forms as readily 
give life. Experiments have been made 
on seeds, and in one-half the time it 
takes Nature to turn out her work by 
ordinary processes, the application of 
electricity has brought out mature 
plants. 

The first experiment was made on an 
egg that was being hatched. An elec- 
tric current strong enough to kill a fowl 
did not destroy the germ of vitality, but 
the chicken when hatched was of most 
abnormal size and monstrous in shape. 
This proved, however, what might be 
done with this marvellous agent. 



In plant stimulation the apparatus 
consists of two glass cylinders, a larger 
one about two inches in diameter for 
the larger seeds, and one about three- 
fourths of an inch for those of less size. 
Within these receptacles the seeds are 
placed, thoroughly moistened, and the 
openings closed with copper disks hav- 
ing wires attached. By these wires the 
disks are connected with the poles of an 
induction coil, and then the current is 
passed through the moist seeds, which 
are good conductors. 

Quickest Method. 

After this treatment the seeds are 
placed in germinating pans. These 
consist of two plates one within the 
other, the inner being of porous clay. 
The seeds are sown between two sheets 
of filter paper, and water passing through 
the porous plate is absorbed by the 
paper, thus keeping the seeds moist at 
all times. The temperature is kept at 
about 48 degrees all the time by aid of 
electrical devices, and the growth of 
the plants is 30 per cent quicker by 
this method than otherwise, while, at 
the same time, many seeds not perfect 
enough to grow under ordinary climatic 
conditions are saved by this electrical 
treatment 



CHAPTER XXX. 



Steam Navigation and Growth of the American Navy. 




OATS propelled by steam — at 
first small and insignificant 
craft, but growing larger, 
swifter, more costly, more in- 
dispensable to the commerce of the 
world, finally culminating in the magni- 
ficent "ocean greyhound" that cleaves 
the waters with the speed of a locomo- 
tive, and the battleship, that grim de- 
fender of nations — such is the marvel- 
ous story of the application of steam to 
river and ocean navigation in the nine- 
teenth century. 

One of the great inventions of the 
early part of the century was the steam- 
boat, with which is associated the name 
of that inventive genius, acute, reso- 
lute, undaunted in the face of defeat and 
never losing his sublime faith in his 
own discovery — Robert Fulton. Ful- 
ton's steamboat was the forerunner of 
the steamship Oceanic and the ocean 
liners that fly like shuttles, weaving 
continents together. 

Several eminent and ingenious men, 
previous to this, had proposed to propel 
vessels by steam power, among whom 
were Dr. Papin, of France, Savery, the 
Marquis of Worcester, and Dr. John 
Allen, of London, in 1726. In 1786, 
Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, and about 
the same time Dr. Franklin, proposed 
to accomplish this result by forcing a 
quantity of water, by means of steam 
power, through an opening made for 
that purpose in the stern of the hull of 
the boat. 

In 1737; Jonathan Hulls issued a 
pamphlet proposing to construct a boat 



to be moved by steam power, for the 
purpose of towing vessels out of harbors 
against tide and winds. In his plan the 
paddle-wheel was used, and was secured 
to a frame placed far out over the stern 
of the boat. It was given this position 
by the inventor because water fowls 
propelled themselves by pushing their 
feet behind them. 

In 1787, Mr. James Rumsey, of Shep- 
herdstown, Virginia, constructed and 
navigated the first steamboat in actual 
use. His boat was eighty feet in 
length, and was propelled by means of 
a vertical pump in the middle of the 
vessel, by which the water was drawn 
in at the bow and expelled at the stern 
through a horizontal trough in her 
hull. The engine weighed about one- 
third of a ton, and the boat had a capa- 
city of about three tons burthen. Whet 
thus laden, a speed of about four miles 
an hour could be attained. The boiler 
held only five gallons of water, and 
needed but a pint at a time. Rumsey 
went to England to exhibit his plan on 
the Thames, and died there in 1793. 

About the same time the Marquis de 
Joffrey launched a steamer one hundred 
feet long on the Loire, at Lyons, using 
paddles revolving on an endless chain, 
but only to find his experiment a failure. 

In December, 1786, John Fitch pub- 
lished an account of a steamer with 
which he had made several experiments 
on the Delaware, at Philadelphia, and 
which came nearer to success than any 
thing that had at that time been in- 
vented. 

473 



474 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 



Fitch was unfortunate in his affairs, 
and became so disheartened that he 
ceased to attempt to improve his inven- 
tion, and finally committed suicide by 
drowning himself in the Alleghany 
River at Pittsburgh. 

Advent of Fulton. 

In 1787, Mr. Patrick Miller, of Dal- 
winston, Scotland, designed a double 
vessel, propelled by a wheel placed in 
the stern between the two keels. This 
boat is said to have been very success- 
ful, but it was very small, the cylinder 
being only four inches in diameter. In 
1789, Mr. Miller produced a larger ves- 
sel on the same plan, which made seven 
miles per hour in the still water of the 
Forth and Clyde Canal, but it proved 
too weak for its machinery, which had 
to be taken out. 

It was in the face of these failures 
that Fulton applied himself to the task 
of designing a successful steamboat. 
During his residence in Paris he had 
made the acquaintance of Mr. Robert 
R. L/ivingston, then the American min- 
ister in France, who had previously been 
connected with some unsuccessful steam- 
boat experiments at home. Mr. Living- 
ston was delighted to find a man of Ful- 
ton's mechanical genius so well satisfied 
of the practicability of steam naviga- 
tion, and joined heartily with him in 
his efforts to prove his theories by 
experiments. 

Several small working models made 
by Fulton convinced Mr. Livingston 
that the former had discovered and had 
overcome the cause of the failure of the 
experiments of other inventors, and it 
was finally agreed between them to 
build a large boat for trial on the Seine. 
This experimental steamer was fur- 



nished with paddle wheels, and was 
completed and launched early in the 
spring of 1803. 

On the very morning appointed for 
the trial, Fulton was aroused from his 
sleep by a messenger from the boat, who 
rushed into his chamber, pale and 
breathless, exclaiming, "Oh, sir, the 
boat has broken in pieces and gone to 
the bottom !" Hastily dressing and 
hurrying to the spot, he found that the 
weight of the machinery had broken 
the boat in half and carried the whole 
structure to the bottom of the river. 

Triumphant Success. 

He at once set to work to raise the 
machinery, devoting twenty-four hours, 
without resting or eating, to the under- 
taking, and succeeded in doing so, but 
inflicted upon his constitution a strain 
from which he never entirely recovered. 
The machinery was very slightly dam- 
aged, but it was necessary to rebuild the 
boat entirely. This was accomplished 
by July of the same year, and the boat 
was tried in August with triumphant 
success, in the presence of the French 
National Institute and a vast crowd of 
the citizens of Paris. 

This steamer was very defective, but 
still so great an improvement upon all 
that had preceded it, that Messrs. Fulton 
and Livingston determined to build one 
on a larger scale in the waters of New 
York, the right of navigating which by 
steam vessels had been secured by the 
latter as far back as 1798. The law 
which granted this right had been con- 
tinued from time to time through Mr. 
Livingston's influence, and was finally 
amended so as to include Fulton within 
its provisions. 

Having resolved to return home, Ful- 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 



475 



ton set out as soon as possible, stopping 
in England on his return, to order an 
engine for his boat from Watt and 
Boulton. He gave an exact description 
of the engine, which was built in strict 
accordance with his plan, but declined 
to state the use to which he intended 
putting it. 

Inventors Ridiculed. 

Very soon after his arrival in New 
York, he commenced building his first 
American boat, and finding that her 
cost would greatly exceed his estimate, 
he offered for sale a third interest in the 
monopoly of the navigation of the 
waters of New York, held by Livingston 
and himself, in order to raise money to 
build the boat, and thus lighten the 
burdens of himself and his partner, but 
he could find no one willing to risk 
money in such a scheme. Indeed, steam 
navigation was universally regarded in 
America as a mere chimera, and Fulton 
and Livingston were ridiculed for their 
faith in it. 

The bill granting the monopoly held 
by Livingston was regarded as so ut- 
terly absurd by the Legislature of New 
York, that that wise body could with 
difficulty be induced to consider it se- 
riously. Even among scientific men 
the project was considered impractica- 
ble. 

All agreed In pronouncing Fulton's 
scheme impracticable ; but he went on 
with his work, his boat attracting no 
less attention and exciting no less ri- 
dicule than the ark had received from 
the scoffers in the days of Noah. 
The steam-engine ordered from Boul- 
ton and Watt was received in the latter 
part of 1806; and in the following 
■spring the boat was launched from the 



ship-yard of Charles Brown on the East 
River. Fulton named her the Cler- 
mont, after the country-seat of his 
friend and partner, Chancellor Living- 
ston. 

She was one hundred and sixty tons 
burthren, one hundred and thirty feet 
long, eighteen feet wide, and seven feet 
deep. Her engine was made with a 
single cylinder, two feet in diameter, 
and of four feet stroke ; and her boiler 
was twenty feet long, seven feet deep, 
and eight feet broad. The diameter of 
the paddle-wheels was fifteen feet, the 
boards four feet long, and dipping two 
feet in the water. The boat was com- 
pleted about the last of August, and 
she was moved by her machinery from 
the East River into the Hudson, and 
over to the Jersey shore. 

Expected Another Failure. 

This trial, brief as it was, satisfied 
Fulton of its success, and he announced 
that in a few days the steamer would 
sail from New York for Albany. A 
few friends, including several scientific 
men and mechanics, were invited to 
take passage in the boat, to witness hei 
performance ; and they accepted the in- 
vitation with a general conviction that 
they were to do but little more than 
witness another failure. 

Monday, September 10, 1807, came 
at lensfth, and a vast crowd assembled 
alonof the shore of the North River to 
witness the starting. As the hour for 
sailing drew near, the crowd increased, 
and jokes were passed on all sides at 
the expense of the inventor, who paid 
little attention to them, however, but 
busied himself in making a final and 
close inspection of the machinery. 

Says Fulton, "The morning I left 



476 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 



New York, there were not, perhaps, 
thirty persons in the city who believed 
that the boat would ever move one 
mile per hour, or be of the least utility; 
and while we were putting off from 
the wharf, which was crowded with 
spectators, I heard a number of sar- 
castic remarks." 

Ready to Start. 

One o'clock, the hour for sailing, 
came, and expectation was at its high- 
est. The friends of the inventor were 
in a state of feverish anxiety lest the 
enterprise should come to grief, and 
the scoffers on the wharf were all ready 
to give vent to their shouts of derision. 
Precisely as the hour struck, the moor- 
ings were thrown off, and the " Cler- 
mont" moved slowly out into the 
stream. Volumes of smoke and sparks 
from her furnaces, which were fed with 
pine wood, rushed forth from her chim- 
ney, and her wheels, which were un- 
covered, scattered the spray far behind 
her. The spectacle she presented as 
she moved out gradually from her dock 
was certainly novel to the people of 
those days, and the crowd on the wharf 
broke into shouts of ridicule. 

Soon, however, the jeers grew silent, 
for it was seen that the steamer was by 
degrees increasing her speed. In a lit- 
tle while she was fairly under weigh, 
and making a steady progress up the 
stream at the rate of five miles per hour. 
The incredulity of the spectators had 
been succeeded by astonishment, and 
now this feeling gave way to undis- 
guised delight, and cheer after cheer 
went up from the vast throng. Many 
people followed the boat for some dis- 
tance up the river shore. In a little 
while, however, the boat was observed 



to stop, and the enthusiasm of the peo- 
ple on the shore at once subsided. The 
scoffers were again in their glory, and 
unhesitatingly pronounced the boat a 
failure. 

Their chagrin may be imagined when, 
after a short delay, the steamer once 
more proceeded on her way, and this 
time even more rapidly than before. 
Fulton had discovered that the paddles 
were too long, and took too deep a 
hold on the water, and had stopped the 
boat for the purpose of shortening them. 

To Albany and Back. 

Having remedied this defect, the 
Clermont continued her voyage during 
the rest of the day and all night, with- 
out stopping, and at one o'clock the 
next day ran alongside the landing at 
Clermont, the seat of Chancellor Iviv- 
ingston. She lay there until nine the 
next morning, when she continued her 
voyage toward Albany, reaching that 
city at five in the afternoon, having 
made the entire distance between New 
York and Albany (one hundred and 
fifty miles) in thirty-two hours of actual 
running time, an average speed of 
nearly five miles per hour. On her re- 
turn trip, she reached New York in 
thirty hours running time — exactly five 
miles per hour. Fulton states that during 
both trips he encountered a head wind. 

The river was at this time navigated 
entirely with sailing vessels, and large 
numbers of these were encountered by 
the Clermont during her up and down 
trips. The surprise and dismay ex- 
cited among the crews of these vessels 
by the appearance of the steamer was 
extreme. These simple people, the 
majority of whom had heard nothing 
of Fulton's experiments, beheld what 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVV. 



477 



they supposed to be a huge monster, 
vomiting fire and smoke from its throat, 
^ashing the water with its fins, and 
shaking the river with its roar, approach- 
ing rapidly in the very face of both wind 
and tide. 

Amusing Terror. 

Some threw themselves flat on the 
decks of their vessels, where they re- 
mained in an agony of terror until the 
monster had passed, while others took 
to their boats and made for the shore 
in dismay, leaving their vessels to drift 
helplessly down the stream. Nor was 
this terror confined to the sailors. The 
people dwelling along the shore crowded 
the banks to gaze upon the steamer as 
she passed by. A former resident of 
the neighborhood of Poughkeepsie thus 
describes the scene at that place, which 
will serve as a specimen of the conduct 
of the people along the entire river below 
Albany : 

" It was in the early autumn of the 
year 1807 that a knot of villagers was 
gathered on a high bluff just opposite 
Poughkeepsie, on the west bank of the 
Hudson, attracted by the appearance 
of a strange, dark-looking craft, which 
was slowly making its way up the river. 
Some imagined it to be a sea-monster, 
while others did not hesitate to express 
their belief that it was a sign of the 
approaching judgment. 

" What seemed strange in the vessel 
was the substitution of lofty and straight 
black smoke-pipes, rising from the deck, 
instead of the gracefully tapered masts 
that commonly stood on the vessels 
navigating the stream, and, in place of 
the spars and rigging, the curious play 
of the working- beam and pistons, and 
the slow turning and splashing of the 



huge and naked paddle-wheels, met the 
astonished gaze. The dense clouds of 
smoke, as they rose wave upon wave, 
added still more to the wonderment of 
the rustics. 

" This strange-looking craft was the 
Clermont on her trial trip to Albany ; 
and of the little knot of villagers men- 
tioned above, the writer, then a boy in 
his eighth year, with his parents, formed 
a part. I well remember the scene, one 
so well fitted to impress a lasting pic- 
ture upon the mind of a child accus- 
tomed to watch the vessels that passed 
up and down the river. 

Intense Curiosity. 

" The forms of four persons were dis- 
tinctly visible on the deck as she passed 
the bluff — one of whom, doubtless, was 
Robert Fulton, who had on board with 
him all the cherished hopes of years, 
the most precious cargo the wonderful 
boat could carry. 

"On her return trip, the curiosity 
she excited was scarcely less intense. 
The whole country talked of nothing 
but the sea-monster, belching forth fire 
and smoke. The fishermen became 
terrified, and rowed homewards, and 
they saw nothing but destruction de- 
vastating their fishing-grounds ; while 
the wreaths of black vapor, and rush- 
ing noise of the paddle-wheels, foam- 
ing with the stirred-up waters, pro- 
duced great excitement among the boat- 
men, which continued without abate- 
ment, until the character of that curi- 
ous boat, and the nature of the enter- 
prise which she was pioneering, had 
been understood." 

The alarm of the sailors and dwellers 
on the river shore disappeared as the 
character of the steamer became better 



478 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 



known ; but when it was found that the 
Clermont was to run regularly between 
New York and Albany, as a packet- 
boat, she became the object of the most 
intense hatred on the part of the boat- 
men on the river, who feared that she 
would entirely destroy their business. 
In many quarters Fulton and his inven- 
tion were denounced as baneful to so- 
ciety, and frequent attempts were made 
by captains of sailing vessels to sink 
the Clermont by running into her. She 
was several times damaged in this way, 
and the hostility of the boatmen became 
so great that it was necessary for the 
lyCgislature of New York to pass a law 
declaring combinations to destroy her, 
or willful attempts to injure her, public 
offenses punishable by fine and impri- 
sonment. 

Made Regular Trips. 

It had been supposed that Fulton's 
object was to produce a steamer capa- 
ble of navigating the Mississippi River, 
and much surprise was occasioned by 
the announcement that the Clermont 
was to be permanently employed upon 
the Hudson. She continued to ply regu- 
larly between New York and Albany 
until the close of navigation for that 
season, always carrying a full comple- 
ment of passengers, and more or less 
freight. 

During the winter she was overhauled 
and enlarged, and her speed improved. 
In the spring of 1808 she resumed her 
regular trips, and since then steam navi- 
gation on the Hudson has not ceased 
for a single day, except during the clos- 
ing of the river by ice. 

In 181 1 and 1812, Fulton built two 
steam ferry-boats for the North River, 
and soon after added a third for the East 



River. These boats were the beginning 
of the magnificent steam ferry system 
which is to-day one of the chief wonders 
of New York. They were what are 
called twin-boats, each of them con- 
sisting of two complete hulls, united by 
a deck or bridge. They were sharp at 
both ends, and moved equally well with 
eitlier end foremost, so that they could 
cross and recross without being turned 
around. 

Floating Dock. 

These boats were given engines of 
sufficient power to enable them to over- 
come the force of strong ebb tides ; and 
in order to facilitate their landing, Ful- 
ton contrived a species of floating dock, 
and a means of decreasing the shock 
caused by the striking of the boat against 
the dock. These boats could accommo- 
date eight four-wheel carriages, twenty* 
nine horses, and four hundred passen- 
gers. Their average time across the 
Ncrth River, a mile and a half wide, 
was twenty minutes. 

The introduction of the steamboat 
gave a powerful impetus to the internal 
commerce of the Union. It opened 
to navigation many important rivers 
(whose swift currents had closed them 
to sailing craft), and made rapid and 
easy communication between the most 
distant parts of the country practicable. 
The public soon began to appreciate 
this, and orders came in rapidly for 
steamboats for various parts of the 
country. Fulton executed these as fast 
as possible, and among the number 
several for boats for the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi Rivers. 

Early in 18 14, the city of New York 
was seriously menaced with an attack 
from the British fleet, and Fulton was 



GROWTH OF THB AMERICAN NAVY. 



479 



called on by a committee of citizens to 
furiiisli a plan for a means of defending 
the harbor. He exhibited to the com- 
mittee his plans for a vessel of war to 
be propelled by steam, capable of carry- 
ing a strong battery, with furnaces for 
red-hot shot, and which, he represented, 
would move at the rate of four miles an 
jhour. These plans were also submitted 
to a number of naval officials, among 
whom were Commodore Decatur, Cap- 
tain Jones, Captain Evans, Captain 
Biddle, Commodore Perry, Captain War- 
rington, and Captain Lewis, all of whom 
warmly united in urging the Govern- 
ment to undertake the construction of 
the proposed steamer. 

Floating Batteries. 

The citizens of New York offered, if 
the Government would employ and pay 
for her after she was built, to advance 
the sum (^320,000) necessary for her 
construction. The subject was vigor- 
ously pressed, and in March, 18 14, 
Congress authorized the building of one 
or more floating batteries after the plan 
presented by Fulton. Her keel was laid 
on the 20th of June, 18 14, and on the 
31st of October, of the same year, she 
was launched, amid great rejoicings, 
from the ship-yard of Adam and Noah 
Brown. 

In May, 1815, her engines were put 
on board, and on the 4th of July of that 
year she made a trial trip to Sandy 
Hook and back, accomplishing the 
round trip — a distance of fifty-three 
miles — in eight hours and twenty min- 
utes, under steam alone. Before this, 
however, peace had been proclaimed, 
and Fulton had gone to rest from his 
labors. 

The ship was a complete success, and 



was the first steam vessel of war ever 
built. She was called the Fulton the 
First, and was for many years used as 
the receiving ship at the Brooklyn Navy 
Yard. She was an awkward and un- 
wieldy mass, but was regarded as the 
most formidable vessel afloat ; and as 
the pioneer of the splendid war steam- 
ers of to-day was an object of great in- 
terest. The English regarded her with 
especial uneasiness, and put in circula- 
tion the most marvellous stories con- 
cerning her. One of these is taken from 
a treatise on steam navigation published 
in Scotland at this period, the author 
of which assures his readers that he has 
taken the utmost pains to obtain full 
and accurate information respecting the 
American war steamer. His descrip- 
tion is as follows : 

A Huge Monster. 

"lycngth on deck three hundred feet, 
breadth two hundred feet, thickness of 
her sides, thirteen feet, of alternate oak 
plank and corkwood; carries forty-four 
guns, four of which are lOO-pounders, 
quarter-deck and forecastle guns, 44- 
pounders ; and further, to annoy an 
enemy attempting to board, can dis- 
charge one hundred gallons of boiling 
water in a minute, and by mechanism 
brandishes three hundred cutlasses, with 
the utmost regularity, over her gun- 
wales; works almost an equal numbef 
of heavy iron pikes of great length, 
darting them from her sides with pro- 
digious force, and withdrawing them 
every quarter of a minute !" 

Fulton followed up the Clermont, in 
1807, with a larger boat, called the Car 
of Neptune, which was placed on the 
Albany route as soon as completed. 
The Legislature of New York had en- 



480 



GROWTH OP TUB AMERICAN NAVY. 



acted a law, immediately upon liis first 
success, giving to Livingston and him- 
self the exclusive right to navigate the 
waters of the State by steam, for five 
years for every additional boat they 
should build in the State, provided the 
term should not exceed thirty years. 

In the following year the Legislature 
passed another act, confirmatory of the 
prior grants, and giving new remedies 
to the grantees for any invasion of them, 
and subjecting to forfeiture any vessel 
propelled by steam which should enter 
the waters of the State without their 
license. In 1809 Fulton obtained his 
first patent from the United States; and 
in 181 1 he took out a second patent for 
some improvement in his boats and 
machinery. His patents were limited 
to the simple means of adapting paddle 
wheels to the axle of the crank of Watt's 
engine. 

Robert Fulton was born in Little 
Britain, Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1765. Though others had pre- 



viously conceived the idea of steam 
navigation, he is admitted to have been 
the first who successfully realized it. 
All the brilliant successes attending 
human mastery of the seas can be traced 
directly to his practical inventions and 
mechanical genius. In the days of my- 
thology he would have been denomi- 
nated Neptune, tbe ruler of the deep. 

Fulton's invention gave a powerful 
impulse to the internal commerce of 
the United States and aided greatly in 
opening up the vast regions adjacent to 
the Mississippi River and our other 
great waterways. Its value cannot be 
estimated and it is impossible to con- 
ceive of any invention that could have 
been fraught with greater practical ben- 
efits. Capitalists were very quick to 
see the vast opportunities thus thrown 
in their way and it was not long before 
untold millions of dollars were invested 
in various enterprises that we should 
never have heard of except for Fulton's 
discovery. 



OCEAN STEAMERS AND BATTLESHIPS. 



After Fulton's steamboats began to 
navigate the Hudson it was not to be 
expected that shipbuilders would be sat- 
isfied until they had constructed vessels 
that could cross the ocean by the aid of 
steam power. In 18 19, the first vessel 
to do this sailed from the city of Savan- 
nah, Ga., and reached Liverpool in 28 
days by the combined aid of wind and 
'steam. The ship bore the name of the 
city from which she sailed. 

The first vessel to cross by steam 
power alone was the Royal William, 
built in Canada ; this voyage was ac- 
complished in 1833. The first ocean 
steamer built of iron was the Great 



Britain, 322 feet in length by 31 feet in 
the beam. It required fifteen days for 
this ship to cross the ocean, and this, in 
1835, was considered remarkably fast 
time. 

Every year improvements have been 
made in the size, speed and superb 
appointments of ocean steamers, until 
in the last part of the century it 
required but little over five days for a 
first-class steamship to make the voyage 
between New York and Liverpool. 
The difference between the first steam 
vessels that carried passengers across the 
ocean and the floating palaces on which 
the myriads of travellers now make the 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 



481 



trip across the sea, is almost inconceiva- 
ble. All the comforts and luxuries of 
a first-class hotel are with you on the 
water, and the great rivalry between the 
various lines of steamships is constantly 
giving rise to new conveniences and 
better facilities. 

For many years the Great Eastern 
was the largest steamship that had been 
floated. It was considered a marvel in 
its day, but as it failed to pay expenses 
when engaged in passenger traffic, it 
found its mission in laying cables 
between this country and Europe. Hav- 
ing done this, it was broken up and 
passed into the limbo of old iron. 

Largest Steamship. 

All things considered, the largest 
steamship ever built is the great Ocean- 
ica. The length of this monarch of the 
seas is 704 feet, and her displacement is 
28,000 tons. She made her first voyage 
in 1899, and is capable of steaming 
around the woi^d at the rate of twelve 
knots an hour without recoaling. It 
would be impossible to give any de- 
scription of her powerful engines and 
vast carrying capacity that would con- 
vey to the mind any adequate idea of 
this marvel of naval construction. 

Place the Oceanica beside the crude 
little Clermont, built by Fulton, and you 
see what the century has accomplished 
in steam navigation. 

A marvel of naval construction is the 
modern battleship. Paul Jones fought 
his famous battle with old, bulky, 
unwieldy sailing vessels. Commodore 
Perry had ships almost as incapable in 
his great battle on Lake Erie. At the 
end of the century, steam war-ships 
that were nothing less than floating bat- 
teries, equipped with the most ingeni- 

31 



ous and the most terrible appliances for 
destruction, made the navies of the 
world so many monsters of death. 
Man's ingenuity was scarcely more con- 
spicuous in any department of invention 
during the century than in the engines ' 
constructed for destroying human life. 

Our Early Navy. 

The navy of the United States has 
always held a warm place in the hearts 
of our countrymen. In the early rev- 
olutionary days Captain Jeremiah 
O'Brien, in a lightly manned and name- 
less sloop, chased and captured off" the 
coast of Maine the British war-schooner 
Margaretta, armed with four light guns 
and fourteen swivel pieces. Cooper 
called this engagement the Lexington 
of the sea, for, like that celebrated skir- 
mish, fought a scant three weeks be- 
fore, it was a rising of the people 
against a regular force, and was charac- 
terized by a long struggle and a tri- 
umph. 

Soon after General Washington as- 
sumed command of the army before 
Boston he issued commissions to differ- 
ent vessels, and gave their commanders 
instructions to cruise about Massachu- 
setts Bay, and to intercept British trans- 
ports and storeships. Captain John 
Manly of Marblehead was the first to 
get away, in the schooner Lee. Al- 
though it may not be strictly true to 
term the Lee and other small cruisers 
similarly employed, the first vessels that 
ever belonged to the general govern- 
ment, they may be deemed the first that 
ever actually sailed with authority to 
cruise in behalf of the entire republic. 

On the 1 3th of October, 1775, the nu- 
cleus of our national fleet was estab- 
lished bv an act of Congress for the 



482 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 



equipment of several vessels. The reign 
of law had come. 

From this little beginning has our 
navy of to-day grown; and from its first 
conmiodore; Esek Hopkins, a long line 
of heroes, brave men and true, have 
made the navy of the United States the 
wonder and admiration of the world. 
John Paul Jones, Hull, Decatur, Mc- 
Donough, Perry, Bainbridge, Preble, 
Lawrence, Farragut, Porter, and others 
who have gone to their rest, carried 
" Old Glory ' ' to victory after victory to 
make this country and its people free; 
and then our Dewey, our Sampson, and 
Schley added further lustre to the flag 
while driving the Spaniard from this 
American continent forever. 

Grand "Old Ironsides." 

The first of the glorious victories 
which revealed to the eyes of the world 
American prowess on the high seas was 
the capture of the frigate Guerriere, 
thirty-eight guns, Captain Dacre, by 
the Constitution ("Old Ironsides"), 
forty-four guns, Captain Hull. The 
action was begun at 5 p. m. on August 
19th by the Guerriere, which surren- 
dered at 7 p. M. after a gallant fight and 
the loss of seventy-nine killed and dis- 
abled. The American loss was seven 
killed and seven wounded. Americans 
were greatly elated by the victory, and 
public enthusiasm for the navy was ex- 
cited to the highest pitch. 

During the war of 18 12, when the 
Constitution was being chased by eleven 
vessels of the enemy, she managed, 
by the vigilant seamanship of Com- 
mander Hull, to escape in a steady 
and man-of-war-like style. In this af- 
fair the ship, no less than those who 
worked her, gained a high reputation. 



The glories of this occasion are de- 
scribed in the quotation of one stanza 
from an old rhyme. It is a fair sample 
of the maritime ballads of the day. 

" 'Neath Hull's command, with a tough band 

And nought beside to back her, 
Before a day, as log-books say, 

A fleet bore down to thwack her. 
A fleet, you know, is odds or so 

Against a single ship, sirs ; 
Soi 'cross the tide, her legs she tried,' 

And gave the rogues the slip, sirs." 

Splendid Line Ships. 

The most picturesque vessels in his- 
tory were the noble shi]3s of the line. 
They give an idea of force, beyond any 
other type which preceded them, and 
presented a superb spectacle at anchor 
or when striving before a general ac- 
tion for that weathergage which was 
deemed the key of battle. 

The Constitution, which was the 
finest of her time, was built in 1797. 
To-day she owns and deserves of all 
ships the warmest corner in the heart 
of the American people. 

The steam sloop of war Kearsage, a 
type of war vessel that came out in 
1859, had conferred upon her an undy- 
ing reputation by her memorable vic- 
tory over the Alabama. The Kearsarge 
was wrecked in 1894 in the West In- 
dies. 

In 1854, when the superiority of the 
screw was recognized. Congress au- 
thorized the construction of the famous 
class of which the Hartford was a type. 
The Hartford was the celebrated flag- 
ship of Admiral Farragut, and she is 
dear to all who appreciate the battle 
work of our ships and sailors. By 
special provision of Congress, the Hart- 
ford was put in a thorough state of 
repair, and will be kept on the navy 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 



483 



list as a cruiser for many years to 
come. 

The necessities of the Civil War 
forced the United States into new naval 
construction. The fortunes of war in 
the famous fight with the Merrimac 
made the Monitor, a new type of war 
vessel designed by Ericsson and com- 
manded by Captain John L-. Worden, 
the best known. It revolutionized the 
naval architecture of the world and be- 
gan the era of iron battleships. The 
Monitor was lost off Hatteras in a storm, 
.'Soon after her splendid victory. 

Admiral Dewey's Flagship. 

The Olympia, the flagship of Admiral 
Dewey, has a much greater military 
value than any other vessel of the pro- 
tected cruiser class that preceded her. 
This was fully demonstrated at the most 
remarkable naval fight the world has 
ever seen — the battle of Manila. 

Among the notable fast cruisers of 
the modern type is the steel-armored 
ship New York, the flag-ship of Admiral 
Sampson, in Cuban waters. The New 
York is a twin ship to the Brooklyn, 
but of slightly less tonnage ; her speed, 
battery, and cost are the same. She 
had her baptism of blood at the bom- 
bardment of San Juan. Her qualities 
as a fighter are undisputed. 

The two Brooklyns are examples of 
the variant types developed during the 
last third of the century. The new 
Brooklyn was Commodore Schley's flag- 
ship of the Flying Squadron at the 
naval battle of Santiago. The old Brook- 
lyn was a steam frigate of twenty-five 
guns, and did good service in the Civil 
War. 

The new Brooklyn is a twin screw 
cruiser of 9,271 tons; speed, 21 kno<^«: 



battery, eight 8-inch breech-loaders, 
twelve 6-pounders, four i -pounder rapid- 
fire, and four Gatling guns. Cost, $2,- 
986,000, 40 officers, 501 men. 

The reader will be surprised at the 
immense cost of our great battleships, 
which runs up into millions of dollars. 
The cost of one of our giant floating 
batteries would have provided a for- 
midable fleet of the style of warships in 
use in the early part of the century. 

The Famous Oregon. 

The Oregon which made without 
mishap the memorable and unrivalled 
voyage of 14,000 miles from San Fran- 
cisco to join Admiral Sampson's fleet, 
is known as a sea-going coast-line bat- 
tleship. The Massachusetts and Indi- 
ana are of the same type. 

The Oregon's armament consists of 
four 13-inch, eight 8-inch, and four 6- 
inch breech-loading steel rifles ; and a 
secondary battery of twenty rapid-fire 
guns, four machine guns, and seven tor- 
pedo tubes. She has 34 officers, 434 
men and cost $3,180,000. 

The second-class battleship Maine 
went into commission in 1895, and two 
and a half years later, while under the 
command of Captain Sigsbee, entered 
Havana harbor on a friendly visit. She 
was destroyed while there by an explos- 
ion, February 15, 1898, and 264 of her 
officers and men lost their lives. The 
Maine was a fine ship of seventeen and 
a half knots speed, and cost $2, 500,000. 

The Raleigh, a second-class protected 
cruiser, participated in the famous bat- 
tle of Manila under Admiral Dewey, 
and distinguished herself in that glori- 
ous contest. 

The Concord is a type of the torpedo- 
^?^nboat class. Twin screw ; 1,700 tons; 



484 



GROWTH OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 



and i6 knots speed. Her battery, six 
6-incli breecli-loading rifles ; two 6- 
pounder, two 3-pounder, and one i- 
pounder rapid-fire guns; two Hotchkiss, 
and two Catling guns ; 14 officers, 178 
men ; cost ^490,000. The Concord had 
the good fortune to be one of Dewey's 
fleet at Manila bay fight, May i, 1898, 
and distinguished herself as a fine repre- 
sentative of her class. 

The Swift Columbia. 
It is pertinent to ask if the United 
States Government turned out in the 
protected cruiser Columbia only a racing 
machine. When the Columbia finished 
her memorable run from Southampton 
to New York in 6 days, 23 hours, 49 
minutes, the great expectations of her 
speed and endurance were realized, 
and the triumph of the pirate, or com- 
merce destroyer, as she was sometimes 
named, was made an occasion of national 
rejoicing. Her length is 412 feet; horse, 
power, 21,000; tonnage, at 8,000. Her 
armament consists of one 8-inch and two 
6-inch breech-loading, eight 4-inch 



rapid-fire rifles, twelve 6 pounder and 
four i-pounder rapid-fire guns, and four 
Gatlings. She cost 12,725,000. 

The Minneapolis is, as nearly as pos- 
sible, a sister ship of the Columbia ; the 
main difference being that the latter has 
four funnels. The Minneapolis, as well 
as the Columbia, is a triple screw, pro- 
tected cruiser, and was designated to be 
a commerce destroyer. During the war 
with Spain she was used as a scout to 
Sfuard our coast from attack bv hostile 
vessels, and to keep the commanders of 
our fleets informed as to the movements 
of the enemy. 

It would be impossible within the 
limits of this work to describe all the 
vessels of our formidable American 
Navy. The foregoing are representa- 
tives of their various classes, and show 
the amazing evolution in our fighting 
sea-craft during the Nineteenth Century. 

These ships are conspicuous triumphs 
of the inventive genius of the century 
in the application of steam to ocean 
navigation and the naval defense of 
nations. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



Elias Howe's Sewing Machine. 



'OR a long time there stood in a 
window at the junction of Broad- 
way and Fourth street, in New 
York City, a curious machine which 
attracted the gaze of thousands who 
passed by. This machine, clumsy and 
odd-looking as it was, nevertheless had 
a history which made it one of the most 
interesting of all the sights of the great 
city. It was the first sewing machine 
that was ever made. 

Elias Howe, its maker, was born in 
the town of Spencer, Massachusetts, in 
1 8 19. He was one of eight children, 
and it was no small undertaking on the 
part of his fatiier to provide a mainte- 
nance for such a household. Mr. Howe, 
Sr., was a farmer and a miller, and, as 
was the custom at that time in the 
country towns of New England, carried 
on in his family some of those minor 
branches of industry suited to the ca- 
pacity of children, with which New 
England abounds. When Elias was 
six years old, he was set, with his 
brothers and sisters, to sticking wire 
teeth through the leather straps used 
for making cotton cards. 

When he became old enough he as- 
sisted his father in his saw-mill and 
grist-mill, andduring thewinter months 
picked up a meager education at the 
district school. He said that it was the 
rude and imperfect mills of his father 
that first turned his attention to machin- 
ery. He was not fit for hard work, 
however, as he was frail in constitution 
and incapable of bearing much fatigue. 



Moreover, he inherited a species of 
lameness which proved a great obstacle 
to any undertaking on his part, and gave 
him no little trouble all through life. 
At the age of eleven he went to live out 
on the form of a neighbor, but the labor 
proving too severe for him, he returned 
home, where he remained until he was 
sixteen years old. 

Seeking His Fortune. 

When at this age, he conceived an 
ardent desire to go to Lowell to seek 
his fortune. One of his friends had 
just returned from that place, and had 
given him such a wonderful description 
of the city and its huge mills, that he 
was eager to go there and see the marvel 
for himself. Obtaining his father's con- 
sent, he went to Lowell, and found em- 
ployment as a learner in one of the large 
cotton mills of the city. He remained 
there two years, when the great finan- 
cial disaster of 1837 threw him out of 
employment. 

He obtained a place at Cambridge, in 
a machine shop, and was put to work 
upon the new hemp-carding machinery 
of Professor Treadwell. His cousin, 
Nathaniel P. Banks, afterward governor 
of Massachusetts, member of Congress, 
and major-general, worked in the same 
shop with him and boarded at the sam.e 
house. Howe remained in Cambridge 

o 

only a few months, however, and was 
then given a place in the machine shop 
of Ari Davis, of Boston. 

At the age of twenty-one he married. 

485 



486 



ELI AS HOWE'S SEWING MACHINE. 



This was a rash step for him, as his 
health was very delicate, and his earn- 
ings were but nine dollars per week. 
Three children were born to him in 
quick succession, and he found it no 
easy task to provide food, shelter, and 
clothing for his little family. The 
li^ht-heartedness for which he had 
formerly been noted entirely deserted 
him and he became sad and melancholy. 

Hopeless Poverty. 

His health did not improve, and it 
;vas with difficulty that he could per- 
form his daily task. His strength was 
so slight that he would frequently re- 
turn home from his day's work too 
much exhausted to eat. He could only 
go to bed, and in his agony he wished 
" to lie in bed forever and ever." Still 
lie worked faithfully and conscienti- 
ously, for his wife and children were 
very dear to him ; but he did so with a 
hopelessness which only those who have 
tasted the depths of poverty can under- 
stand. 

About this time he heard it said that 
the great necessity of the age was a 
machine for doing sewing. The im- 
mense amount of fatigue incurred and 
the delay in hand-sewing were obvious, 
and it was conceded by all who thought 
of the matter at all that the man who 
could invent a machine which would 
remove these difficulties would make a 
fortune. Howe's poverty inclined him 
to listen to these remarks with great 
interest. No man needed money more 
than he, and he was confident that his 
mechanical skill was of an order which 
made him as competent as any one else 
to achieve the task proposed. 

He set to work to accomplish it, and, 
as he knew well the dangers which sur- 



round an inventor, kept his own coun- 
sel. At his daily labor, in all his waking 
hours, and even in his dreams, he 
brooded over this invention. He spent 
many a wakeful night in these medita- 
tions, and his health was far from being 
benefited by this severe mental applica- 
tion. Success is not easily won in any 
great undertaking, and Elias Howe 
found that he had entered upon a task 
which required the greatest patience, 
perseverance, energy, and hopefulness. 
He watched his wife as she sewed, and 
his first effort was to devise a machine 
which should do what she was doing. 

Success at Last. 

He made a needle pointed at both 
ends, with the eye in the middle, that 
should work up and down through the 
cloth, and carry the thread through 
at each thrust; but his elaboration of 
this conception would not work satis- 
factorily. It was not until 1844, fully 
a year after he began the attempt to in- 
vent the machine, that he came to the 
conclusion that the movement of a 
machine need not of necessity be an 
imitation of the performance of the 
hand. It was plain to him that there 
must be another stitch, and that if he 
could discover it his difficulties would 
all be ended. 

A little later he conceived the idea of 
using two threads, and forming a stitch 
by the aid of a shuttle and a curved 
needle with the eye near the point. 
This was the triumph of his skill. He 
had now invented a perfect sewing- 
machine, and had discovered the essen- 
tial principles of every subsequent modi- 
fication of his conception. Satisfied 
that he had at length solved the problem, 
he constructed a rough model of his 



ELIAS HOWE'S SEWING MACHINE. 



487 



machine of wood and wire, in October, 
1844, and operated to liis perfect satis- 
faction. His invention is thus de- 
scribed : 

Curious Needle. 

"He used a needle and a shuttle of 
novel construction, and combined them 
with holding surfaces, feed mechanism 
and other devices, as they had never 
before been brought together in one 
machine. One of the principal features 
of Mr. Howe's invention is the combi- 
nation of a grooved needle, having an 
eye near its point, and vibrating in the 
direction of its length, with a side- 
pointed shuttle for effecting a locked 
stitch, and forming, with the threads, 
one on each side of the cloth, a firm and 
lasting seam not easily ripped. The 
main action of the machine consists in 
the interlocking of the loop, made by 
the thread carried in the point of the 
needle through the cloth, with another 
thread passed through this loop by 
means of a shuttle entering and leaving 
it at every stitch. 

" The thread attached to this shuttle 
remains in the loop and secures the 
stitch as the needle is withdrawn to be 
ready to make the next one. At the 
same time the cloth, held by little pro- 
jecting pins to the baster plate, is car- 
ried along with this by what is called 
the ' feed motion ' just the length of a 
stitch, the distance being readily ad- 
justed for finer or coarser work. The 
cloth is held in a vertical position in the 
machine, and the part to be sewed is 
pressed against the side of the shuttle- 
race by a presser plate hinged on its 
upper edge, and capable of exerting any 
required pressure on the cloth, according 
as the adjusting screw that regulates it is 



turned. " A slot, or perforation through 
this plate, also extended through the side 
of the shuttle-race near the bottom, ad- 
mits the passage of the needle ; and when 
this is pushed in the shuttle can still 
pass freely over it. The shuttle is 
pushed one way and then the other 
through its race or trough by picker 
staves. The thread for the needle is 
supplied by a bobbin, the movement of 
which is checked by a friction band, 
thus securing the proper tension, 
and the slack of the thread is duly 
taken up by a suitable contrivance for 
the purpose. Thus, all the essential 
features of the most approved sewing- 
machine were first found in that of 
Mr. Howe ; and the machines of later 
date are, in fact, but modifications of 
it." 

Poor, but Persevering, 

At this time, he had abandoned his 
work as a journeyman mechanic, and 
had removed to his father's house. Mr. 
Howe, Sen., had established in Cam- 
bridge a machine-shop for the cutting 
of strips of palm-leaf used in the manu- 
facture of hats. Blias and his family 
lived under his father's roof, and in the 
garret of the house the half-sick in- 
ventor put up a lathe, where he did a 
little work on his own account, and 
labored on his sewing-machine. He 
was miserably poor, and could scarcely 
earn enough to provide food for his 
family ; and, to make matters worse, 
his father, who was disposed to help 
him, lost his shop and its contents by 
fire. 

Poor Elias was in a most deplorable 
condition. He had his model in his 
head, and was fully satisfied of its excel- 
leiice, but: h§ h^d not the money to buy 



488 



ELI AS HOWE'S SEWING MACHINE. 



the materials needed in making a per- 
fect machine, which would have to be 
constructed of steel and iron, and with- 
out which he could not hope to con- 
vince others of its value. His great 
invention was useless to him without 
the five hundred dollars which he needed 
in the construction of a working model. 

Finds a Friend- 
In this dilemma, he applied to a 
friend, Mr. George Fisher, a coal and 
wood merchant of Cambridge, who was 
a man of some means. He explained 
his invention to him, and succeeded in 
forming a partnership with him. Fisher 
agreed to take Howe and his family to 
board with him while the latter was 
making the machine, to allow his garret 
to be used as a workshop, and to 
advance the five hundred dollars neces- 
sary for the purchase of tools and the 
construction of a model. In return for 
this he was to receive one-half of the 
patent, if Howe succeeded in patenting 
his machine. 

About the first of December, 1844, 
Howe and his family accordingly moved 
into Fisher's house, and the little work- 
shop was set up in the garret. All that 
winter he worked on his model. There 
was little to delay him in its construc- 
tion, as the conception was perfectly 
clear in his mind. He worked all day, 
and sometimes nearly all night, and in 
April, 1845, had his machine so far ad- 
vanced that he sewed a seam with it. 
By the middle of May the machine was 
completed, and in July he sewed with 
it the seams of two woolen suits, one 
for himself and the other for Mr. Fisher. 
The sewing was so well done that it 
outlasted the cloth. 

It has been stated by Professor Ren- 



wick and other scientific men that 
Elias Howe "carried the invention of 
the sewing-machine further on toward 
its complete and final utility than any 
other inventor has ever brought a first- 
rate invention at the first trial. In truth, 
the curious machine at the corner of 
Broadway and Fourth street had in it 
all the essentials of the best sewing- 
machine ever constructed. 

All Rejected It. 

Having patented his machine, Howe 
endeavored to bring it into use. He 
was full of hope, and had no doubt that 
it would be adopted at once by those 
who were so much interested in the 
saving of labor. He first ojffered it to 
the tailors of Boston ; but they, while 
admitting its usefulness, told him it 
would never be adopted by their trade, 
as it would ruin them. Consideringc 
the number of machines now used by 
the tailoring interest throughout the 
world, this assertion seems ridicu- 
lous. 

Other efforts were equally unsuccess- 
ful. Bvery one admitted and praised 
the ingenuity of the machine, but no 
oue would invest a dollar in it. Fisher 
became disgusted, and withdrew from 
his partnership, and Howe and his fa- 
mily moved back to his father's house. 
Thoroughly disheartened, he abandoned 
his machine. He then obtained a place 
as engineer on a railroad, and drove a 
locomotive until his health entirely 
broke down. 

With the loss of his health his hopes 
revived, and he determined to seek in 
England the victory which he had 
failed to win here. Unable to go him- 
self, he sent his machine by his brother 
Aniasa, in October, 1846. Upon reach- 



ELIAS HOWE'S SEWING MACHINE. 



489 



ing lyondon, Amasa sought out Mr. 
William Thomas, of Cheapside, and 
explained to him his brother's inven- 
tion. He found Mr. Thomas willing to 
use the machine in his business, but 
upon terms more favorable to himself 
than to the inventor. 

He offered the sum of twelve hun- 
dred and fifty dollars for the machine 
which Amasa Howe had brought with 
him, and agreed to pay Elias fifteen 
dollars per week if he would enter his 
service, and adapt the machine to his 
business of umbrella and corset making. 
As this was his only hope of earning a 
livelihood, Elias accepted the offer, 
and, upon his brother's return to the 
United States, sailed for England. He 
remained in Mr. Thomas's employ for 
about eight months, and at the end of 
that time left him, having found him 
hard, exacting, and unreasonable. 

In Desperate Straits. 

Meanwhile his sick wife and three 
children had joined him in London, and 
he had found it hard to provide for 
them on the wages given him by Mr. 
Thomas ; but after being thrown out of 
employment his condition was desper- 
ate indeed. He was in a strange coun- 
try, without friends or money, and 
often he and his little family went 
whole days without food. Their suffer- 
ings were very great, but at length 
Howe was able (probably by assistance 
from home) to send his family back to 
his father's house. 

He himself remained in London, sliU 
hoping to bring his machine into use. 
It was in vain, however, and so, col- 
lecting what few household goods he 
had acquired in England, he shipped 
them to America, and followed them 



thither himself in another vessel, pawn- 
ing his model and patent papers to pay 
his passage. When he landed in New 
York he had half a crown in his pocket, 
and there came to him on the same day 
a letter telling him that his wife was 
dying with consumption in Cambridge. 

In Time to See Her Die. 

He could not go to her at once, as he 
had no money, and was too feeble to 
undertake the distance on foot. He 
was compelled to wait several days mi- 
til he could obtain the money for his fare 
to Cambridge, but at length succeeded 
in reaching that place just in time to 
see his wife die. In the midst of his 
grief he received the announcement 
that the vessel containing the few house- 
hold goods which he had shipped from 
England had been lost at sea. It seemed 
to him that Fate was bent upon destroy- 
ing him, so rapid and stunning were 
the blows she dealt him. 

But a great success was now in store 
for him, and he was to rise out of his 
troubles to the realization of his bright- 
est hopes. Soon after his return home 
he obtained profitable employment, and, 
better still, discovered that his machine 
had become famous during his absence. 
Fac-similes of it had been constructed 
by unscrupulous mechanics, who paid 
no attention to the patents of the inven- 
tor, and these copies had been exhibited 
in many places as " wonders," and had 
even been adopted in many important 
branches of manufacture. 

Howe at once set to work to defend 
his rights. He found friends to aid him, 
and in August, 1850, began those fa- 
mous suits which continued for four 
years, and were at length decided in 
his favor. His adversaries made a bold 



490 



ELIAS HOWE'S SEWING MACIIIXE. 



resistance, but the decision of Judge 
Sprague, in 1S54, settled the matter, 
and triumphantly established the rights 
of the inventor. 

In 1S50, Howe removed to New York, 
and began in a small way to manufac- 
ture machines to order. He wms in 
partnership with a Mr. Bliss, but for 
several years the business was so unim- 
portant that upon the death of his part- 
ner, in 1 85 5, he was enabled to buy out 
that gentleman's interest, and thus be- 
came the sole proprietor of his patent. 
Soon after this his business began to 
increase, and continued until his own 
proper profits and the royalty which the 
courts compelled other manufacturers 
to pay him for the use of his invention 
grew from $300 to $200,000 per annum. 
In 1867, when the extension of his 
patent expired, it is stated that he had 
earned a total of two millions of dollars 
by it. It cost him large sums to de- 
fend his rights, however, and he w^as 
very far from being as wealthy as was 
commonly supposed, although a very 
rich man. 

In the Paris Exposition of 1867, he 
exhibited his machines, and received 
the gold medal of the Exposition, and 
the Cross of the Legion of Honor, in 
addition, as a compliment to him as a 
manufacturer and inventor. 

He contributed money liberally to 
the aid of the Union in the Civil war, 



and enlisted as a private soldier in the 
Seventeenth Regiment of Connecticut 
Volunteers, with which command he 
went to the field, performing all the 
duties of his position until failing health 
compelled him to leave the service. 

Upon one occasion the Government 
was so much embarrassed that it could 
not pay the regiment of which he was 
a member. ;Mr. Howe promptly ad- 
vanced the money, and his comrades 
were saved from the annoyances which 
would have attended the delay in 
paying them. He died at Brooklyn, 
Long Island, on the 3rd of October, 
1867. 

Mr. Howe will always rank among 
the most distinguished of American 
inventors ; not only because of the un- 
usual degree of completeness showm in 
his first conception of the sewdng- 
machine, but because of the great bene- 
fits which have sprung from it. It has 
revolutionized the industry of the world, 
opened new sources of wealth to enter- 
prise, and lightened the labor of hun- 
dreds of thousands of working people. 
Many a pale-faced, hollow-eyed woman, 
who formerly sat sewing her life away 
for a mere pittance, blesses the name of 
Elias Howe, and there is scarcely a 
community in the civilized world but 
contains the evidence of his genius, and 
honors him as the benefactors of the 
human race. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



Hoe's Lightning Printing Press. 



fO write the complete histor}- of the 
printing press would require 
years of patient labor and re- 
search, and a much larger space than 
the limits of this present work will per- 
mit There are few subjects more at- 
tractive or more worthy of consideration 
than the history of this wonderful in- 
vention, which seems more like a 
romance than a narration of facts. 

The historian who should essay the 
task would be required to carry his 
reader back to the darkest ages of the 
world, and, beginning with the stamps 
used for affixing hieroglyphical charac- 
ters to the now crumbling ruins of 
Bg>'pt and Nineveh, trace the gradual 
development of the beneficent concep- 
tion from the si^ets of the Israelites, 
and the stamps used by the Romans for 
marking certain kinds of merchandise, 
through the rude process of the Chinese, 
Japanese and Tartars, to the invention 
of Johannes Guttenberg, and, finally, 
to the wonderful lightning steam-presses 
of to-day. 

In these pages it is not proposed to 
ofier to the reader any such narrative. 
On the contrary, the stor\' of the print- 
ing press will betaken up just as it was 
on the point of reaching its greatest 
perfection, since our subject concerns 
only the man and his invention where- 
by it was brought to that state. 

This man, Richard March Hoe by 
name, was born in the city of New 
York, on the 12th of September, 18 12. 
His father, Robert Hoe, was a native of 



the village of Hose, Leicester, England, 
and the son of a wealthy farmer. Dis^ 
liking his father's pursuit, he appren- 
ticed himself to a carpenter. When 
only sixteen years old, the elder Hoe 
purchased his indentures from his mas- 
ter and he sailed for the United States. 

Energetic Young Man. 

Robert Hoe was almost penniless 
when he reached New York, and in this 
condition entered the store of Mr. Grant 
Thorburn one day in search of employ- 
m.ent. Mr. Thorburn manifested a sud- 
den and strong likiug to the youth, 
took him to his own house, and when 
he was prostrated with the yellow fever, 
during the epidemic of 1804, nursed 
him tenderly throughout. Setting to 
work immediately upon his arrival in 
New York, he made friends rapidly, 
and prospered in his trade so well that 
when but twenty years old he was able 
to marry. His bride was a daughter of 
Matthew Smith, of Westchester, and a 
sister of Peter Smith, the inventor of 
a hand printing press. 

With this gentleman and Matthew 
Smith, Jr., his brother, Robert Hoe en- 
tered into partnership. Their business 
was that of carpentering and printers' 
joineiy- ; but after Peter Smith had 
completed the invention of his hand 
press, it gradually grew into the manu- 
facture of presses and printers' mater- 
ials. Both brothers died in 1823 and 
Robert Hoe succeeded to the business. 

The manufactory- of Robert Hoe & 

491 



492 



HOE'S LIGHTNING PRINTING PRESS. 



Co. was originally located in the centre 
of the old block between Pearl and Wil- 
liam Streets, and Pine Street and Maiden 
Lane. Soon after their establishment 
there, the city authorities ran Cedar 
Street right through their building, and 
they removed to Gold Street, near John, 
They were twice burned out here, but 
continued to occupy these premises with 
their counting-room and lower shop. 

Steam Presses. 

Printing by steam had long attracted 
the attention of persons engaged in the 
art, and many essays had been made in 
this direction by different inventors, 
both in this country and in Kurope. 
The most successful results were the 
Adams press, the invention of Mr. Isaac 
Adams, of Boston, Mass., and the Na- 
pier press, that of a British artisan. It 
was the latter which was the means of 
identifying Mr. Hoe with the steam 
press. 

The Napier press was introduced into 
this country in 1830, by the proprietors 
of the National Intellige7icer^ but when 
it arrived these gentlemen were not able 
to release it from the Custom-house. 
Major Noah, himself the proprietor of a 
newspaper, was at that time collector 
of the port of New York, and he, being- 
anxious to see the press in operation, 
requested Mr. Hoe to put it together. 
Ml. Hoe performed this task success- 
fully, although the press was a novelty 
to him, and was permitted to take mod- 
els of its various parts before it was re- 
shipped to England. It was found to 
be a better press than any that had ever 
been seen in this country, and the Com- 
mercial Advertiser^ of New York, and 
the Chronicle^ of Philadelphia, at once 
ordered duplicates of it from England. 



Mr. Hoe was very much pleased with 
this press, but believed that he could 
construct a much better one. To this 
end he despatched his new partner, Mr. 
Sereno Newton, to England to examine 
all the improvements in machinery 
there, and bring home samples of such 
as he thought might be advantageously 
adopted in this country. Mr. Newton, 
besides being an ingenious mechanic, 
was well-read in books, and was con- 
sidered one of the first mathematicians 
in New York. Returning from his 
mission, he constructed a new two- 
cylinder press, which soon superseded 
all others then in use. Mr. Hoe's health 
failed, compelling him, in 1832, to re- 
tire from the business. 

Successful Inventor. 

Young Richard M. Hoe had been 
brought up in his father's business, 
after receiving a fair education. He 
inherited his father's inventive genius, 
combined with a rare business capacity, 
and from the first was regarded as the 
future hope of the establishment. Upon 
the withdrawal of his father, a partner- 
ship was established between himself, 
his brother Robert, Mr. Newton, and 
his cousin, Matthew Smith, but the 
style of the firm remained unchanged. 

Richard Hoe's first invention was 
conceived in 1837, and consisted of a 
valuable improvement in the manufac- 
ture of grinding saws. Having obtained 
a patent for it in the United States, he 
visited England in that year for the 
same purpose. By his process circulai 
saws may be ground with accuracy to 
any desired thickness. He readily ob- 
tained a patent in England, as the ex- 
cellence of his invention commended it 
to every one. While there he gave 



HOE'S LIGHTNING PRINTING PRESS. 



493 



especial attention to the improvements 
which had been made in the printing 
press, in the manufacture of which his 
firm was largely engaged. 

Returning to New York, he devoted 
himself entirely to this branch of his 
business, and soon produced the ma- 
chine known as Hoe's Double-Cylinder 
Press, which was capable of making 
about six thousands impressions per 
hour. The first press of this kind ever 
made was ordered by the New York 
Sun^ and was the admiration of all the 
printers of the city. This style of press 
is now used extensively for printing 
country newspapers. 

Demand for Speed. 

As long as the newspaper interest of 
the country stood still, Hoe's Double- 
Cylinder Press was amply sufficient for 
its wants, but as the circulation of the 
journals of the large cities began to in- 
crease, the " double-cylinder " was often 
taxed far beyond its powers. A print- 
ing press capable of striking off papers 
with much greater rapidity was felt to 
be an imperative and still-increasing 
need. It was often necessary to hold 
the forms back until nearly daylight 
for the purpose of issuing the latest 
news, and in the hurry which ensued 
to get out the morning edition, the press 
very frequently met with accidents. 

Mr. Hoe was fully alive to the im- 
portance of improving his press, and, 
iu 1842, he began to experiment with 
it for the purpose of obtaining greater 
speed. It was a serious undertaking, 
however, and at every step fresh diffi- 
culties arose. He spent four years in 
experimenting, and at the end of that 
time was almost ready to confess that the 
obstacles were too great to be overcome. 



One night, in 1846, while in this mood, 
he resumed his experiments. The more 
he pondered over the subject the more 
difficult it seemed. In despair, he was 
about to relinquish the effort for the 
night, when suddenly there flashed 
across his mind a plan for securing the , 
type on a horizontal cylinder. 

Solved in a Night. 

This had been his great difficulty, 
and he now felt that he had mastered 
it. He sat up all night, working out 
his design, and making a note of every 
idea that occurred to him, in order that 
nothing should escape him. By morn- 
ing the problem which had baffied him 
so long had been solved, and the mag- 
nificent " lyightning Press" already 
had a being in the inventor's fertile 
brain. 

He carried his model rapidly to per- 
fection, and, proceeding with it to Wash- 
ington, obtained a patent. On his re- 
turn home he met Mr. Swain, the pro- 
prietor of the Baltimore Sini and Phil- 
adelphia Ledger, and explained his in- 
vention to him. Mr. Swain was so 
much pleased with it that he at once 
ordered a four- cylinder press, which 
was completed and ready for use on the 
31st of December, 1848. This press 
was capable of making ten thousand 
impressions per hour, and did its work 
with entire satisfaction in every respect. 

This was a success absolutely unpre- 
cedented — so marked, in fact, that some 
persons were inclined to doubt it. The 
news flew rapidly from city to city, and 
across the ocean to foreign lands, and 
soon wherever a newspaper was printed 
men were talking of Hoe's wonderful 
invention. Orders came pouring in 
upon the inventor with such rapidity 



494 



HOE'S LIGHTNING PRINTING PRESS. 



that he soon had as many on hand as 
he could fill in several years. In a 
comparatively brief period the Herald^ 
Tribtme^ and Stm^ of New York, were 
boasting of their "Lightning Presses," 
and soon the Traveller and Daily Jour- 
nal^ in Boston, followed their, example. 

Immense Fortune. 

Mr. Hoe was now not only a famous 
man, but possessed of an assured busi- 
ness for the future, which was certain 
to result in a large fortune. By the 
year i860, besides supplying the princi- 
pal cities of the Union (fifteen lightning 
presses being used in the city of New 
York alone), he had shipped eighteen 
presses to Great Britain, four to France, 
and one to Australia. Two of the pres- 
ses sent to England were ordered for the 
I^ondon Times. 

Mr. Hoe continued to improve his 
invention, adding additional cylinders 
as increased speed was desired, and at 
length brought it to the degree of per- 
fection exhibited in the splendid ten- 
cylinder press that was used in the 
offices of leading journals, and struck 
off twenty-five thousand sheets per 
hour. 

In 1858, Mr. Hoe purchased the pat- 
ent rights and manufactory of Isaac 
Adams, in Boston, and carried on the 
manufacture of the Adams press from 
that place. He also established a man- 
ufactory in England, where he con- 
ducted a profitable business in both the 
Adams and the Hoe press* Over a mil- 
lion and a half of dollars were invested 
in these establishments in New York, 
Boston, and London, in land, buildings, 
and stock. The firm manufacture pres- 
ses of all kinds, and all materials used 
by printers except type and ink. 



The ten-cylinder press was sold at 
fifty thousand dollars, and was regarded 
as cheap at that immense sum. It is 
one of the most interesting inventions 
ever made. Those who have seen it 
working in the subterranean press- 
rooms of great journals will not soon 
forget the wonderful sight. The ear is 
deafened with the incessant clashing of 
the machinery ; the printed sheets issue 
from the sides of the huge engine in an 
unceasing stream ; the eye is bewildered 
with the mass of lines and bands ; and 
it seems hard to realize that one single 
mind could ever have adjusted all the 
various parts to work harmoniously. 

Rotary Printing. 

Mr. Walter of the London Times is 
entitled to the honor of being instru- 
mental in introducing the system of 
rotary printing for news-work, just as 
his father deserves that of having intro- 
duced steam machine-printing. The 
Walter press was soon adopted as the 
pattern of a number of machines con- 
structed in Great Britain and abroad. 
Some of these machines much developed 
the idea of the Walter, and embodied 
fresh and important improvements. 

In 1870, Messrs. George Duncan and 
Alexander Wilson, of Liverpool, brought 
out their "Victory" machine, which 
included the folding arrangement since 
added to the Walter press. By this 
apparatus, newspapers of various sizes 
are printed, folded, delivered and count- 
ed into quires or any portion required, 
at the rate of 200 per minute. 

Since about 1870 the rotary system 
of printing has been gradually adopted 
in the ofiices of all newspapers having 
even moderately large circulations. Fac- 
tories for producing rotary machines 



HOB'S LIGHTNING PRINTING PRESS. 



495 



have been established in various parts 
of England, while many such machines 
have been built in France, Germany and 
America. 

The most improved and the fastest 
machines at the end of the century were 
those of Messrs. Hoe & Co., of New 
York and London. The most improved 
of these machines print four or six page 
papers at the extraordinary speed of 
48,000 per hour or 800 per minute. 
Papers of eight, ten or twelve pages may 
be printed at a speed of 24,000 per hour* 



and a sixteen page paper at 12,000 per 
hour. The papers can be pasted down 
the centre margins if required, and 
counted as delivered in quires of any 
number fixed upon. The «nachine de- 
livers the papers, inset, pa<sted, cut top 
and bottom, turned out as compact as a 
pamphlet, and, by a device largely used 
in America, even folded and wrappered 
ready to post. This speed is effected 
by using a reel of paper of double width, 
about eight feet wide on which can be 
printed duplicate sets of plates. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



Miscellaneous Discoveries and Inventions. 



|ARIyYin 1896 it was announced 
that Professor Roentgen, of 
'Wurzburg University, Ger- 
many, had discovered a method by 
which certain substances could be pho- 
tographed, not merely showing the ex- 
terior surface, but also the interior sub- 
stances. As the composition of the 
rays of light was unknown, these rays 
were designated by the algebraical term 
of X, meaning an unknown quantity. 
The discovery caused great interest 
throughout the world, and immediately 
experiments were begun in many places, 
especially by professors in medical 
schools. 

It was soon ascertained that some 
parts of the human body, for example 
the hand, could be photographed and 
all solid substances beneath the flesh 
could be distinctly seen. In this way 
the bones of the hand are reproduced, 
and if there should be such a solid sub- 
stance as a bullet of lead, it can be lo- 
cated and extracted. The importance 
of this discovery, especially to medical 
science, cannot be overestimated. 

Experiments were carried on at Yale 
College with the following results: 
One of the professors laid a sensitive 
photographic plate horizontally in a 
wooden box, placed the object to be ex- 
perimented with on top of the box, and 
suspended his Crookes tube above them 
both. He then turned on the electric 
current, which generated the newly 
discovered rays in the tube, which, in 
turn, threw them upon the objects below. 
496 



In the first experiment Mr. Bumstead 
used a leather pocketbook containing 
several coins. He thus photographed 
the coins, the rays going completely 
through the leather, the resistance of 
which was trifling compared with what 
it would have offered to light. He also 
photographed in the same way a pair 
of eyeglasses in their case. The result 
showed that the glasses were photo- 
graphed, while the case was scarcely 
visible. A lead pencil showed an excel- 
lent picture of the lead, with the wooden 
portion dimly outlined. 

Surprising Results. 

A couple of English walnuts which 
had never been opened were exposed, 
and a splendid view of the kernels was 
obtained. All these exposures lasted 
about an hour. The experiments were 
carried on in open daylight, the plates, 
of course, being kept from the sun. 

Probably the most interesting of Mr. 
Bumstead' s experiments were those 
with animals. For this purpose he 
used a fish, a mouse and a frog. After 
the usual exposure the backbone of the 
fish was easily distinguishable. 

The frog picture displayed a portion 
of the skeleton with more or less vivid- 
ness, the plainest parts being the leg 
bones. The most distinct part of the 
mouse's skeleton was the skull, which 
could be traced with little difficulty. 
The little fleshy nose of the mouse did 
not give nearly as much resistance to 
the rays as the bone, and this fact was 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



497 



die most useful result of the experi- 
ments. 

One experimenter relates the result 
as follows: 

" My last attsmpt has resulted in 
giving me a perfect photograph. I 
used as a subject the leg of a man which 
had been fractured in a railroad acci- 




PHOTOGRAPH OF HUMAN HAND SHOWING 
THE ANATOMY IN DKTAIIv. 

dent two years ago. The fracture was 
in the upper third of the tibia, or, in 
other words, in the large bone of the 
leg a few inches above the knee. I 
placed an ordinary camera on one side 
of the leg and directly opposite on the 
other side of the member I placed the 
tube at a distance of three or four inches. 
"The result was a clearly defined 
photograph. The bone appears rounded 
and not flat, as in the shadowgraphs 
heretofore produced. The fracture is 
perfectly plain. It can be traced all 
around the bone. The surface of hard- 
32 



ened lime salt, which forms after a 
fractured bone has been set, shows 
clearly. 

"Then comes the most remarkable 
part of the photograph. Running down 
each side of the bone is a line showing 
the location of the marrow. The mar- 
row is darker in the picture than the 
bone itself. Then, through the mar- 
row a dark line can be seen, showing 
the mark of the fracture on the oppo- 
site side of the bone. In the centre of the 
bone are two spots, plainly discernible, 
showing the fibrous tissues of the 
nerves." 

A standard medical journal comments 
as follows, upon the advantages of the 
discovery : 

" As far as our present knowledge 
goes the positive advantages to medi- 
cine seem to be limited to three condi- 
tions : fractures, dislocations, and tu- 
mors of bones, encysted bullets, needles 
or pieces of glass in the tissues and 
earthy calculi. 

"In the locating of bullets, some 
brilliant results have been already re- 
corded, in which the bullet beyond the 
reach of touch or probe has been found 
by the X-ray and successfully removed." 

One experiment at Berlin, Germany, 
located a needle in the stomach of a 
young woman which caused great irri- 
tation and incessant expectoration of 
blood. It was determined as a last re- 
sort to bring the patient to the Roent- 
gen laboratory in the hope that the X- 
ray would locate the needle, and that 
it might be extracted without endan- 
gering the young woman's life. 

The plate plainly showed every bone 
of the upper part 01 the body and the 
needle was found lying point downward 
in the lower right angle of the stomach. 



498 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



Surgeons being present, it was re- 
solved to remove the needle at once. 
The patient was placed under the in- 
fluence of chloroform, and the cause 
of the excruciating suffsrings which 
threatened her life, was taken from the 
stomach by skillful surgical manipula- 
tions. 

The statement has been made that if, 
at the time President Garfield was felled 
by an assassin's pistol, this method of 
photography had been in use, the bullet 
could have been located and doubtless 
the life of the President could have been 
saved. The probes of the surgeons were 
of no avail ; they were working in the 
dark. No such fatal rtsult could have 



happened if this new discovery had been 
known at that time. Its effects upon 
medical science are of the most marked 
and beneficial description. 

The announcement has already been 
made that success has attended efforts to 
photograph the brain, thus locating 
tumors in that organ. In fact, the^ 
whole human body is surveyed and ex- 
amined in all the workings of its won- 
drous mechanism. A photograph will 
tell the surgeon just what internal parts 
are diseased and will save all explora- 
tion with the knife. This, apart from 
the curiosity attending such a discovery, 
has led the scientific world to hail the 
new photography with delight. 



DISCOVERY OF LIQUID AIR. 



One of the most interesting discover- 
ies in the realm of science in the latter 
part of the century was that of liquid 
air, the coldest substance known to man. 
It was long ago observed that when a 
gas was compressed so as greatly to re- 
duce its volume, it became hot. This 
was called the heat of compression, and, 
strangely enough, was thought to be 
generated by the act of compression. It 
is now understood, however, that the 
rise in temperature is not caused by an 
increase in heat, but rather by the con- 
centration of the manifest heat of a 
large volume into a small space. 

Experiments that proved this also 
suggested that the discovery could be 
turned to profit by cooling the heated 
gas down while under pressure, and 
then allowing it again to expand to its 
original volume, which would make it 
fall greatly in temperature. It was soon 
learned that gas could be compressed and 
then cooled and allowed to expand until 
its temperature dropped 200 degrees. 



For some time it had been held by 
scientists that air was a permanent gas, 
and could not be changed in its form, 
but gradually with experiments the 
idea arose that if air could be brought 
to a sufficiently low temperature it 
could be liquefied. All means known 
were used without success until, in 1 877, 
Raoul Pictet submitted oxygen gas to 
an enormous pressure combined with 
intense cold. The result was a few 
drops of clear, bluish liquid that bub- 
bled violently for a few moments, and. 
then evaporated into the air again. 

In 1892, a Polander named Olzewski 
succeeded in performing a similar ex- 
periment with nitrogen, the other con- 
stituent of air. And about the same 
time Professor Dewar, of England, not 
only performed both of these experi- 
ments, but also succeeded in producing 
a small quantity of air in a mushy form 
— in fact, air-ice. 

The cost of this first ounce of liquid 
air was more than ^3,000. While beincr 



MISCEIvLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



499 



a very interesting discovery for labora- 
tory use, such a production and at sucli 
an expense was out of the question for 
commercial purposes. So it remained 
for Charles H. Tripler, of New York 
City, to invent a method whereby this 
wonderful agent can be brought forth 
with ease and at the cost of about 
twenty cents a gallon. He saw at once, 
upon the discovery that air could be 
liquefied, that it might be a great power 
generator, and accordingly commenced 
experiments to simplify the method for 
procuring it. He investigated the vari- 
ous means by which refrigeration was 
developed, such as the immense am- 
monia plants used in breweries and the 
like. The principle of cooling by ex- 
pansion, he learned, was the basis to 
work upon, and the result of his studies 
was a simple and satisfactory system 
for producing this wonderful com- 
pound. 

Its Practical Uses. 

The uses and experiments to which 
this wonderful discovery may be placed 
are as odd and interesting as the method 
of its production. The following are a 
few of its uses : 

It is eleven and one-half times as 
powerful as compressed air, and may be 
carried in a pasteboard box, while as 
much energy in compressed air would 
need the strongest steel cans. It may 
supplant some forms of fuel, for, when 
mixed with any form of carbon, it burns 
rapidly or explodes. Thus it may be 
used in interior combustion engines — 
for instance, the gas engine. When a 
proper motor has been developed, it will 
no doubt be used to help solve the 
question of aerial navigation, for some- 
thing that combines great power with 



lightness seems to be the only reason 
why aii-shipsare not a complete reality. 
The same may be said of sub-marine 
navigation. Here liquid air would sup- 
ply the motive power, and the air for 
the crew to breathe as well, for a small 
quantity contains as much air as can 
be compressed into many great tanks. 
An automobile is now being made to 
run by this power. Deep-sea diving 
would also be aided by the use of casks 
of this air attached to the diving appa- 
ratus of the diver, thus doing away in a 
great measure with the pumps. In 
mines where water is likely to rush in 
at any time, it might be used to freeze 
the surrounding earth, thus preventing 
great catastrophes. 

A Perfect Vacuum. 

In making such vacuum bulbs as 
those used for electric lights, liquid air 
would be very useful. After the air 
has been pumped out as much as possi- 
ple, the remainder can be frozen into a 
solid drop at one end, and then the 
bulb may be closed above it by an ordi- 
nary blow-pipe, thus giving an absolute 
vacuum. The most frightful explosions 
can be produced with the combination 
of combustibles and liquid air, for oxy- 
gen is necessary to combustion, and 
this air contains it in vast quantities. 
Physicians and surgeons sing the praises 
of this discovery, for by its aid a wound 
may be cauterized, or an excrescence 
" burned " away entirely. 

Odd experiments, such as freezing a 
rose in all its color and loveliness, or 
reducing an egg to a frozen solid that 
when handled will break up into a 
thousand fragments and the yolk scat- 
ter as the pollen of a flower, show what 
may be done in the laboratory. When 



500 



MISCELI.ANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 



a potato is frozen it becomes as hard as 
stone, and when fractured shows as 
beautiful a surface as ivory. Frozen 
butter may be pounded in a mortar 
until it is as fine as powder, and a raw 
beefsteak becomes pale and then breaks 
like petrified wood. 

We have generally considered mercury 
and alcohol non-freezable, but when 
brought into contact with this queer li- 
quid, mercury becomes as hard as rock, 
and alcohol a white, stringy substance 
like molasses candy. Steel in bars may 
be readily reduced to flame by dipping it 
in a glass of this air and lighting it. 

Driven by Air. 

Tripler succeeded in periectmg a 
machine by which he makes liquid air 
produce itself And though it is scoffed 
at by scientists, who say something 
cannot be made from nothing, yet Trip- 
ler maintains that when his machine 
has once been cooled down he can make 
almost ten gallons of fresh supply with 
the use of but three gallons. If this be 
so, ere long we shall have steamships 
and locomotives running themselves 
from nothing but air — in fact, almost 
perpetual motion. However, just as it 
is, this new property is a marvel, and 
to see Tripler's engine running without 
a vestige of heat, in fact, with ice on 
her firebox, and yet the wheels revolv- 
ing and producing power, is, to say the 
least weird and awe-inspiring. 

At the beginning of the century, in- 
deed, until nearly its close no one 
dreamed that the great cataract of Nia- 
gara would ever be utilized for any 
purpose. It was Nature's awe-inspiring 
wonder, an object of matchless sub- 
limity, but nothing more. 

The Falls of Niao-ara are now used 



to operate great electric dynamos foi 
generating power for many factories in 
their neighborhood. The waters of 
lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and 
Erie empty into the Niagara River, 
which after leaving lyake Erie flows 
swiftly for two miles and then widens 
and sejDarates above Grand Island into 
two branches. These come together 
again below the island, and flow slowly 
about several islands till their combined 
waters reach the "rapids" about a 
mile above the falls. The flow of water 
here is 275,000 cubic feet a second, or 
half a million tons per minute. This 
enormous flood was first utilized for 
power in 1725, when a small saw-mill 
was erected near the falls and run by 
its force. 

Niagara Harnessed. 

The Niagara Falls Power Company 
has made cuts in the river a mile 
above the American Falls. Water is led 
in from the "rapids" by a canal 12 feet 
wide and 180 feet long, with capacity of 
100,000 horse power, to a wheel pit 30 feet 
wide by 200 feet long and 180 feet deep. 
Eight steel pen stocks restrain the water 
in its plunge down to the bottom of the 
wheel pit, and at the base of each is a 
5,500-horse power vertical turbine. The 
shaft of each turbine is attached at the 
upper end to a 5,000-horse power gene- 
rator, which gives the plant a total 
capacity of 40,000-horse power. 

From the wheel-pit the water runs 
through a tail-race 7,000 feet long, 
directly under the town of Niagara 
Falls to an outlet at the base of the 
cliffs. The Niagara Falls Paper Com- 
pany uses 7,200 hydraulic horse power 
from this same point, taking it from the 
cannl before it reaches the penstock. 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



501 



Another plant, operated by the. Niag- 
ara Falls Hydraulic Power Company, 
takes in water from the rapids 2,000 feet 
below the other intake, and runs a 
canal through the town to the edge of 
the gorge, where two penstocks, eight 
and eleven feet in diameter, take the 
water to a power house 200 feet below 
at the edge of the river. Here horizon- 
tal turbines develop energy to about 
20,000 horse power. An old canal built 
in 1858 also supplies about 7,500 horse 
power. On the Canadian side the 
Niagara Falls Park and River Railway 
operates a power house with two tur- 
bines, and generates 2,000 horse power. 

The theoretical power that is possible 
from the Falls is that of 7,500,000 horses, 
of which, however, less than 50,000 is 
being developed and put to useful 
account. 

The turbines that do the work of gen- 
erating power are arranged in pairs. 
Each is attached to a 13-foot diameter 
inlet tube. Two large revolving bronze 
wheels receive the water, which has 



first been governed by pressure gates, 
and led into the wheels by draught 
tubes, which are so arranged as to keep 
the dampness out of the machinery. 
The turbines are 70 inches in diameter, 
and have 36 blades, each one of 142 
square inches and highly polished so as 
not to give resistance to the water. 
The axis of each of the great wheels is 
1 1 % inches in diameter, and they are 
all mounted on ball bearings. Each 
turbine revolves 250 times a minute. 

Industries using electric power for 
manufacturing paper, aluminum, car- 
borundum, calcium carbide, and other 
chemical industries, street railways of 
Niagara and a railway of twenty-two 
miles to Buffalo, are all being operated 
by this great power generator. Buffalo 
alone takes many thousand horse power. 
It was at first thought that the electric- 
ity thus generated would sometime be 
taken great distances for power pur- 
poses, but the tendency is more for 
industries to move near Niagara than to 
transmit the power. 



GOODYEAR'S PROCESS FOR UTILIZING 
INDIA RUBBER. 



An American invention of the great- 
est utility is that of vulcanized India- 
rubber, the production of a poor man 
named Charles Goodyear, who, like 
Howe, spent years of his life and en- 
dured semi-starvation while persistently 
experimenting. Beginning in 1834, it 
was 1839 before, after innumerable fail- 
ures, he discovered the secret of vulca- 
nizing the rubber by means of sulphur. 

Before that date the softening effect 
of heat rendered rubber practically use- 
less, but the vulcanized rubber produced 
by Goodyear was, before his death in 
i860, applied to nearly five hundied 



purposes, and gave employment to 60,- 
000 persons in Europe and the United 
States. Since then its utility has very 
greatly increased, and its employment 
for bicycles and carriage tires opens up 
a new field for its use which must enor- 
mously increase the demand. 

Goodyear' s history affords another 
striking illustration of what inventions 
that have come to be most highly prized 
cost the men who gave to them time, 
labor, brain, all the money they had 
and even life itself. He was called a 
fool and madman, went ragged and 
hungry, but never gave up. 



602 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



DISCOVERIES IN THE ART OF HEALING. 



Many diseases and injuries whicli 
were formerly considered incurable and 
always resulted in death are now suc- 
cessfully treated by the masters of med- 
ical science. Thousands of persons owe 
their lives and healthy physical condi- 
tion to the progress in surgery during 
the last decade of the century. 

With the experiments in treatments 
for disease by electricity, X-rays, the 
Finseu violet light, and Pasteur serums 
for plague microbes, the world of science 
is fast advancing upon the diseases that 
flesh is heir to. Most scientists are 
coming around to the belief th^t a vast 
number of ailments commonly attri- 
buted to various or unknown causes all 
have their origin in microbes or bacilli, 
— tiny animal natures that feast them- 
selves upon the tissues of the human 
body. 

Germs of Disease. 

With this thought in view, they have 
steadily sought out the particular germs 
of certain diseases, with the result that 
many have been classified. The next 
study was to find some remedy that 
would effectually chase these intruders 
out of the system. At present scores of 
microbes have been found, some that 
cause one disease, others that cause 
others. Thus tuberculosis, or consump- 
tion of the lungs, diphtheria, plagues, 
cancers, and yellow fever, each has its 
own peculiar bacillus, and physicians 
are daily searching for more and surer 
enemies to these little pests. 

Light in almost any form and pure 
air are very beneficial in these diseases, 
being deadly enemies to most microbic 
organisms. Consequently scientists are 



desired remedies, and yet in some cases 
air on a sore surface aggravates the 
trouble. Dr. Murphy invented a pro- 
cess for the treatment for consumption 
in which he pierces one lung by means 
of a small hollow needle. Through the/ 
aperture of the needle he admits a quan- 
tity of gas which collapses that lung in 
its diseased part, and it scars over and 
is healed. Dr. Murphy was also the 
inventor of the famous "Murphy but- 
ton " for piecing severed intestines. 

Liquid air, though in its crude stages 
for surgical uses, is yet hailed as a great 
boon to man. As already stated there 
is not to be found any other means of 
producing such intense cold, and the 
effect upon animal tissue of this strange 
property of air is nearly the same as 
intense heat, though no blister is oc- 
casioned. In cauterizing wounds, in 
removing foreign growths and killing 
putrid flesh, this method is sure and 
has few evil after effects. It cures corns, 
warts, boils, ring-worms, ivy-poisoning 
and ulcers, forms of rheumatism and 
neuralgia, kills typhoid fever germs, as 
well as diphtheria, and in part supplants 
the surgical knife. 

Finsen Light Cure. 
Probably one of the greatest dis- 
coveries of recent years in medicine 
has been that of Dr. Finsen of Copen- 
hagen for the cure of skin disease 
by subjecting the affected parts to 
strong violet rays of light. It is well 
known that such maladies are caused 
by bacteria, and when light in concen- 
trated violet hues is cast upon diseased 
tissue it has been found that the bacilli 
are killed and the skin becomes healthy 



searching through these media for the I again. 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



503 



The bactericidal property of liglit 
had previously been proved. Investi- 
gations at theFinsen Laboratory showed 
that that property, instead of residing 
in light as a whole, was peculiar to the 
chemical rays. These rays have a 
power to irritate the skin and to pene- 
trate it. He exposed a specimen bacil- 
lus to bright sunshine in July, and 
found that the rays killed it in an hour 
and a half. The light from an electric 
lamp did the same work in about eight 
hours. 

Known by Experiment. 

It was learned that when the skin 
was full of blood it was harder for the 
light to penetrate. This was proved 
by fastening a piece of sensitized pho- 
tographic paper behind a man's ear and 
placing him in the sunlight. After a 
considerable exposure the paper was 
unaffected. When the ear was after- 
wards pressed so as to squeeze the blood 
from it an exposure of twenty seconds 
turned the paper black. 

Now, as soon as Finsen had learned 
that the blue rays of light had the proper- 
ties of killing disease germs, he set about 
devising a method for its practical use. 
The result has been a set of lenses be- 
tween which is a bright blue, weak, 
ammoniacal solution of copper sulphate. 
This water absorbs the red or heat waves 
and some of the yellow, but allows the 
blue, violet and ultra-violet rays to 
pass. 

To the surface of the skin to be treated 
is attached by rubber bands a lens be- 
tween the glasses of which is run a 
stream of water to cool the surface and 
keep from blistering the skin, while at 
the same time the weight of the glass 
presses out most of the blood. When 



the rays are turned on, they at once 
penetrate to the spot where the germs 
are feeding upon the tissue and destroy 
them. It is said the treatment has been 
very efficient in smallpox, lupus or tu- 
berculosis of the skin, baldness in small 
spots, and other epidermic ailments, 
and the patients say there is little or no 
pain, and are quite ready to undergo 
the treatment. 

Pasteur's Discovery. 
In the Pasteur institute for rabies in 
Paris all the persons treated in 1898 were 
cured with the exception of three. For 
the thirteen years since the foundation 
of the institution to the end of 1898, 
1 3) 1^3 persons were treated in Paris, 
and out of this number only ninety-nine 
died. 

Anti-Toxin. 

A serum called anti-toxin has largely 
been put into use as a cure for diph- 
theria. It is a brownish liquid prepared 
from the serum taken from the glands 
in the neck of a horse inoculated with 
the disease to fever point. The serum 
is allowed to stand and the anti-toxin 
comes to the surface and is skimmed off. 
By injecting the anti-toxin into the 
blood of the subject there is at once sent 
through the system a most deadly enemy 
to the diphtheria germs. One well- 
known physician in two years' practice 
with this remedy treated 2,100 cases in 
malignant form without losing one pa- 
tient. The after effects are somewhat 
weakening, however, as the action of 
the anti-toxin tends to retard the heart's 
motion. 

The X-Ray. 

Brain specialists have hailed with joy 
the X-ray as a medium for learning 



504 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



whether clots of blood are pressing on 
certain parts of the brain, thereby caus- 
ing insanity, or inaction of some of the 
faculties. The X-ray is also used for 
many other surgical and anatomical 
purposes, as already stated. 

Skin and Bone Grafting. 

Improvements along the line of skin- 
grafting and bone-making has been go- 
ing on rapidly. It is no uncommon 
occurrence to graft over burned or dis- 
eased spots large pieces of flesh and skin, 
taken from the body of a healthy person. 
In bone-growing, animal bone has prac- 
tically supplanted the insertion of for- 
eign substances, such as plates of silver 
and the like. Decalcified bone chips 
(that is bone with the lime taken out) 
are prepared from the fresh tibia or femur 
of an ox by being kept in a weak solution 
of hydrochloric acid for about a week. 

The periosteum, or outer skin of the 
bone, and the medullary tissue (marrow) 

DISCOVERY OF 

The century has produced scarcely 
any greater boon for humanity than 
that of anaesthetics, whereby pain may 
be alleviated, and in most surgical cases 
may be absolutely prevented. 

As early as 1795 sulphuric ether was 
used for the relief of spasmodic affec- 
tions of the respiration. The fact that 
sulphuric ether could produce insensi- 
bility was shown by the American phy- 
sicians, Godwin in 1822, Mitchell in 
■ 1832, Jackson in 1833, Wood and Bache 
in 1834 ; but it was first used to prevent 
the pain of an operation in 1846, by 
Dr. Morton, a dentist of Boston. The 
news of his success reached England 
on December 17th, 1846, and on the 
22d, Mr. Robinson, a dentist, and Mr. 



are removed and the flimsy bone is cut 
into long strips about one-eighth of an 
inch wide. These, when they are to be 
used, may be cut into smaller pieces, 
and laid in the cavity of the patient left 
by the old bone being taken out. The 
skin of the wound is replaced, and grad- 
ually the grafted bone grows into the 
bone of the patient and performs its 
new functions as well as that with 
which he was born. For cranial defects, 
larger bones must be sought out and 
used in the same way. 

Such are some of the marvellous dis- 
coveries in medical science by which 
the close of the century is distinguished. 
In this most beneficent field of operation 
for curing disease and abating human 
suffering, the advance has been such as 
to almost challenge belief. It is hardly 
too much to say that modern surgery can 
take a man to pieces, reconstruct him, 
and put him together again, having 
given him a new lease of life. 

ANESTHETICS. 

Liston, the eminent surgeon, operated 
on patients rendered insensible by the 
inhalation of sulphuric ether. 

This material was extensively used 
for a year, when Sir James Simpson 01 
Edinburgh, discovered the anaesthetic 
powers of chloroform, and introduced 
the use of it into his special depart- 
ment in the University of Edinburgh, 
which was obstetrics. Since that time 
chloroform has been the anaesthetic in 
general use in Europe; both it and 
ether are extensively used in our own 
country. 

Other substances have been used by 
inhalation, such as nitrous oxide, which 
is the best and safest anaesthetic for 
operations that last only one or two 



MIRCEIXANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



505 



minutes, as in the extraction of teeth. 
The employment of general anaesthe- 
tics in surgery has greatly increased 
the scope of the surgeon's usetulness, 
and has been a great boon to suffering- 
humanity Local anaesthesia, artifi- 
cially produced, is of great value in 



minor operations and in painful aflfeo 
tions of limited areas of the body. 
If the Nineteenth Century had fur- 
nished no other discoveries than this it 
would deserve to rank high among all 
the periods of time since the world 
beofan. 



EXPLORATIONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



Since the day when Jules Verne wrote 
his famous ' ' Twenty Thousand Lea- 
gues under the Sea," there has con- 
stantly been some inventor experiment- 
ing to solve the problem of travelling 
by a boat submerged under the surface 
of the water. Verne's boat, the " Nau- 
tilus," was a marvel of imagination, but 
others as wonderful in tlieir reality have 
appeared, which, though not perfect in 
all things desired, yet do operate at the 
bottom of the sea, float under the surface 
for several hours, and come up safely. 

Such boats are being constantly 
studied by the war departments of the 
great powers, perhaps more than by any 
one else, for reason of the uses to which 
they may be put during war. Such a 
submarine traveller, supplied with a 
number of torpedoes and with an air 
supply to last the crew for a few hours, 
could send to everlasting rest a whole 
tiavy, equipped though it might be with 
the most modern methods for protection 
and attack. 

France, as much as any other nation, 
lias been interested in this subject, and 
the result of her studies has been several 
boats brought forth by the skill and in- 
ventive genius of Gustave Zede. This 
clever man, in 1886, built at Toulon an 
experimental vessel, the Gymnote, so 
ay to test the principles he held with a 
view to embodying them in a larger and I 



more complete war vessel. This boat 
was not much more than a large White- 
head torpedo, made of sheet steel in the 
shape of a cigar, being 56.7 feet long by 
5.9 feet in diameter, and with displace- 
ment of thirty tons. To this shell were 
attached horizontal and upright rudders, 
so that she might be steered straight 
ahead by using the usual rudder, or 
might be made to dive or rise by use of 
the horizontal rudder. 

Electric motors with storage batteries 
supplied the power for the screw pro- 
peller, and a speed of seven knots an 
hour submerged and of nine knots on 
the surface were secured, while the bat- 
teries would run constantly for from 
four to five hours. Buoyancy was se- 
cured by a watertight compartment fore 
and aft, and sufficient compressed air 
was stored to supply the crew of five 
men when submerged. Besides these 
contrivances there was a heavy ballast 
attached to the bottom of the boat on 
the keel, that could be detached at a 
moment's notice in case of accident, 
thus allowing the vessel to rise. 

A long tube with reflecting lens and 
mirrors rose from the boat like a mast. 
This could be bent at an elbow at right 
angle and made to turn about, so that 
the image of any object at any point of 
the horizon could be reflected to the 
cabin of the boat when it wa.e suiv 



506 



MISCEIvI/ANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



merged. Witliowt this " prismscope ' ' 
it would be almost impossible to keep 
track of the enemy when on a cruise 
under the surface. 

The experiments with the Gymnote 
were so wonderfully successful that the 
French government at once set Zede to 
work making a large one for prac 
tical use. The result was the vessel 
which excited the interest of all the 
countries, and which, in honor of the 
inventor, was named the Gustave Zede. 

Dimensions of Boat. 

The length of this boat is 147 feet, 
diameter 10.75 f'sst, and displacement 
260 tons. The hull follows the general 
lines of the former model, being cigar 
shaped with very sharp ends. The 
speed has been increased to 8^ knots 
an hour below and 14 knots on the sur- 
face. Ten men constitute the crew, and 
enough stored air is carried to last them 
while below. In the nose of the boat is 
an opening for discharging an ordinary 
torpedo. She can operate in deep and 
shallow water with remarkable success, 
and trips averaging between seventy and 
eighty miles are her average runs, thus 
giving her power to make a fighting 
dash at any enemy within a radius of 
thirty-five miles, and return in safety. 

Various boats having the same gen- 
eral principles have been made and 
operated with much the same success, 
among others the Nordenfeldt, the Peral, 
Goubet, and the Holland, the latter a 
remarkable vessel built by an Ameri- 
can, which has been successfully tested 
by the United States government. 

Of a different sort altogether, how- 
ever, is Simon Lake's invention, the 
Argonaut. 

Knowing the difficulties that beset 



the path of the inventor who tries to 
keep his boat floating under the surface 
in equilibrium with the water, he set 
about to contrive one that would travel 
on wheels at the sea bottom. In all 
types of floating boats, there is great 
danger of misplacing the ballast and 




thus tipping the boat over on her side. 
This was what Lake figured against, and 
accordingly he brought out a boat that 
would float on the surface propelled by 
a screw, yet when closed and loaded 
with its water ballast, would sink to the 
bottom and advance along the unknown 
highways by means of large wheels, 
after the style of a locomotive. 

The vessel is thirty- six feet long, 
cigar-shaped, with blunt nose and 
pointed stern, and is fitted with a 
thirty-horse power gasoline engine 
which operates the screw propeller, 
driving wheels, the electric dynamo, the 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



507 



air compressor, and derricks for hoisting 
the weights Like many other subma- 
rine boats, she is supplied with air when 
all but below the surface, by a steel tube 
reaching up in the air in the shape of a 
mast. Down this conies a fresh supply 
of air, and out at another similar one 




goes the exhaust steam from the engine. 
In her nose is a searchlight that 
shoots out rays far ahead into the water; 
on her bottom is a heavy false keel that 
may be released in case of accident, 
allowing her to rise because of added 
buoyancy. The vessel is guided by a 
compass, and it is found that this is 
entirely practicable below as well as 
above water, only it must be kept high 
above the machinery, which would other- 
wise affect her needle. Compressed air 
is resorted to for breathing supply when 
the boat is so far below the surface that 
the engine has to be stopped and the 
masts are entirely submerged. 

Tlien the electricity, stored up by the 
dynamo while the engine was working, 
is used to operate the machinery. Trips 
of i,ooo miles have been made in the 
Argonaut without landing, a great part 
of which was spent below. Air supply 
suflEcient for five men for twenty-four 



hours is easily stored, and with occa- 
sionally running up near enough to the 
surface to let the steel tubes send down 
more air, these trips can last as long as 
gasoline and food hold out. 

The accompanying sectional view of 
Argonaut submerged, shows man in con- 
ning-tower making 
observations ; also 
man steering with 
third wheel, which 
rests on the ocean 
bottom. Water 
tanks are filled 
when descending, 
and pumped dry 
when ready to come 
up. The water tank 
is also shown. 

A, gasoline en- 
gine, 30-horse 
power which supplies all the power in 
moving and operating the boat. BB, two 
anchor weights used in sinking boat. C, 
one of the two driving wheels. E, rudder 
and guiding wheel. FFFF, living room, 
in which are placed the engine and all 
other machinery and apparatus for 
operating boat. G, air lock; this affords 
a passage to and from diver's room with- 
out reducing air pressure. H, diver's 
room, whence is had free passage into 
the sea. K, bow compartment where 
searchlight is placed. L, forward look- 
out compartment. MM, gasoline tanks. 
NN, compressed-air reservoirs. OOOO, 
water-ballast compartments. PP, per* 
manent keel. PQ, drop keel. R, dy- 
namo. S, conning-tower. T, binnacle; 
the compass in this binnacle is in direct 
view of the outside steering gear, but 
from the conning-tower is read by re- 
flection. U, outside steering gear. In 
general form the Argonaut is cylindrical. 



508 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



Simply to go below the surface and 
not be able to leave the boat would be 
of little avail. The Argonaut is there- 
fore fitted with a diving apparatus so 
that men may leave the boat at any 
time, explore a wreck, fasten a torpedo 
to an enemy's war ship, pick up a cable 
and cut it, or go a-fishing after sharks. 
This is all done by means of a hole in 
the bottom of the boat near the forward 
end. When a diver wishes to leave the 
boat, he puts on a diving suit and goes 
into the diving compartment, which 
has a great heavy door with rubber 
packing. 

This door he closes, and cuts off the 
diving compartment from the living 
rooms and machinery. Then he turns on 
the compressed air till the pressure in 
the room is greater than that of the 
water that wants to come in. He then 
lets drop the heavy iron door to the 



hole in the bottom of the boatj and 
steps out, and not so much as a drop 
of water enters the vessel. Or sup- 
pose in time of war the telegraph cables 
of the enemy are to be cut. Instead of 
putting on a diving suit, the man to do 
the work simply goes into the div- 
ing room, turns on the air pressure, lets 
the trap door drop, and by means of a 
short wooden stick with a hook in the 
end reaches down and picks up the cable 
and cuts it. 

The possibilities of such a boat are 
very great, both in time of peace and 
war. In salvaging wrecked ships and 
treasures a submarine boat would do 
marvels, as well as in pearl, sponge and 
coral fishing. The work of laying foun- 
dations for lighthouses, piers and break- 
waters would be wonderfully facilitated, 
as well as in landing armies during 
a blockade, and blowing up war ships. 



DEATH-DEALING MACHINES OF WAR. 



It has been said that improvements 
in deadly war missiles will before long 
put a stop to war altogether. One 
would almost think so when it is con- 
sidered what marvellous strides inven- 
tion has taken along this line. Time 
was, and not long ago either, when the 
round cannon shot was aimed at the 
tough oak side of the frigate ; when the 
grappling chain and cutlass for hand-to- 
hand conflicts were necessary on all 
war vessels, awd the bayonet and cavalry 
charge played great parts in land 
battles. 

Most of this is now changed. The 
iron shot gave way to steel projectiles, 
as the wooden hulls were replaced with 
steel. The completeness of victories, 
however, is no less than in centuries 
past ; distances are only greater. And 



each increase in the power of improved 
explosives and projectiles will be met 
with greater defensive devices, and with 
greater distances between the firing 
lines. It will be the brotherhood of 
man, not the deadliness and fear of 
weapons, that will bring about univer- 
sal peace. 

In weapons and death-dealing ma- 
chines for land forces there are, at the 
close of the century, such improve- 
ments as the far-reaching rifle, with its 
nickel-capped bullets, the Gatling, Max- 
im and Hotchkiss guns, smokeless 
powders, and such explosives as cordite, 
dynamite, lyddite and nitro-glycerine. 
Charges play some part, as in the gal- 
lant fight of San Juan Hill, but, in the 
main, artillery and long-distance firing 
prevail. With the navy more marvel- 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



509 



lous improvements have been made. 
Nearly everything on board ship can 
now be operated by electricity. Ships 
are lighted, torpedoes, gnns and mines 
fired, searchlights are operated, torpe- 
do-boats propelled, and a hundred other 
devices all controlled by this weird 
agent. 

The armor plates of the modern ves- 
sel are thick and of the hardest steel 
known, yet they are readily pierced by 
the enormous .shells thrown at the dis- 
tance of several miles from the throats 
of great dynamite and compressed air 
guns. Among the numerous explosives 
of high power that are coming into use, 
the newest and possibly the most pow- 
erful is lyddite. 

Powerful Explosives. 

Ivike others of its class, such as dyna- 
mite, melinite, cordite, maxinite, etc., 
it is picric acid brought into a dense 
state of fusion. Picric is obtained bv 
the action of nitric acid on carbolic 
acid. When lyddite shells explode they 
grind their outer coverings into small 
fragments, and with a noise like the 
downfall of the heavens, tearing every- 
thing to pieces for yards around. This 
explosive was used by the Engli.sh in 
the war with the Boers, though the 
latter complained that such was against 
the codes of civilized warfare. Gen- 
eral Kitchener also used it in his cam- 
paign of the Soudan with tremendous ef- 
fect. A shell was dropped into a mosque 
atOmdurman, where 120 Mahdists were 
worshiping. The mosque and its in- 
mates were blown into pieces, and only 
twelve of the worshipers escaped alive. 

In the war between China and Japan, 
cordite, a. similar though inferior explo- 
sive, was thrown in a twelve-inch shell 



into the Japanese flagship Matsushima 
with the effect of hurling a 4. /-inch 
gun from its mounting, firing a heap of 
ammunition, disabling two more 4. 7- 
inch guns, and killing and wounding 
ninety officers and men. 

Smokeless Powder. 

Smokeless powder is another deadly 
explosive, having for its main peculiar- 
ity the quality of exploding without 
smoke, giving only a slight violet vapor, 
that is not sufficient to betray the am- 
bush of the gun. This kind of powder 
is made in long cylindrical strings and 
then cut up into small pieces. In the 
United 'States war supply factories, it is 
coated with plumbago by being placed 
in receptacles with the powdered black 
lead or plumbago and shaken up. This 
coating, being rather oily, keeps the 
powder from igniting by friction in case 
of rough handling. 

Cordite looks a great deal as its name 
would signify, something like brown 
jelly pressed into long strings from one- 
sixteenth to one-half inch in diameter, 
and dried. Some kinds of smokeless 
powder look foi all the world 'like care- 
fully cut strips of slippery elm bark. 
It is made in slabs about one-fourth inch 
thick and a foot and a half to two feet 
long. This powder is much safer to 
handle than common black or brown 
powder, and will bear quite a blow pro- 
vided no sparks are struck. 

Like all smokeless powder, it will 
burn without special danger if a match 
is applied to it, with a clear, steady 
flame, not flashing with a big .s-s s-s like 
the old sort. Some of these explosives 
are cut into pieces just like Saratoga 
chips, and it is a rather blood-curdling 
job for one not informed to watch sheP' 



510 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



loaders hammer home this stuff into the 
big shells as though in truth it were 
only so much potato. 

Nitro-Glycerine. 

This is used in some of its forms for 
war purposes, but more especially for 
blasting oil-wells and the like, is one of 
the most difficult of all explosives to 
manufacture. It is generally pale yellow 
in color, is odorless, and has a sweet 
pungent taste, though when touched to 
the skin will cause severe headache. It 
is made in a large tank called an agita- 
tor, which has a set of revolving pad- 
dles. Into this are poured equal quan- 
tities of nitric and sulphuric acids, and 
after a mixture of 250 pounds is secured, 
sweet glycerine to the amount of 1,500 
pounds is added. The chemicals natur- 
ally tend to come to great heat, but 
since 90 degrees explodes the mixture, 
water pipes are arranged about the vat 
to keep down the temperature. 

In carrying this explosive there is 
great danger of jarring. Makers of the 
stuff generally live only about five years 
at their work. As in all other factories 
of powders and the like, no metals are 
allowed, and the shoes and clothing of 
the workmen must be changed to suit 
their employment. Canvas shoes are 
used, and the men may not turn their 
trousers at the bottom for fear of bring- 
ing in grit and gravel that might strike 
a spark. 

Projectiles. 

These have improved in weight and 
hardness so that in battle tons of metal 
are fired through great granite fortifica- 
tions and steel clad ships with greater 
ease than the old-time round shot could 
pierce an oak side, Earl'tr in the nine- 



teenth century methods for throwing 
hollow shells filled with powder or small 
shot were invented. From canister, 
grape and chain shot, there have evolved 
heavier shells, generally explosive, but 
also of such hard and sharply pointed 
steel that no armor can withstand them. 
Most of the smaller rifles are equipped 
with balls that pierce the object aimed 
at cleanly and without jagged edges. 
Cases have been known where such a 
ball passing through a person did not 
even inflict a severe- wound. Such is 
really the result aimed at in civilized 
war ; either to kill a man outright, or 
simply temporarily to disable him. 

Dum-dum Bullet. 

Some kinds of shells, however, are 
diabolical in their intent. Among these 
is the dum-bum bullet, declared bar- 
barous by the Peace Convention at The 
Hague in 1899. Some small shot ex- 
plode after entering the body ; others, 
like the dum-dum bullet, flatten out 
when they strike any object of resist- 
ance, because of their soft material, be- 
ing only partly covered by a nickel 
envelope, and these at once make fear- 
ful, jagged wounds, and are hard to ex- 
tract. 

The ''Base" Shell. 

The bottom or blunt end of the shell, 
which is large and for cannon use, is 
separate from the rest of the shell. This 
"base" rests on ball-bearings, and, 
while the upper portion revolves, it is 
stationary. Attached to the base and 
folding up into grooves along the upper 
part are four murderous scythes. When 
the shell is thrown from its gun, the 
rifling of the core starts the point of the 
shell revolving, the knives, pushed by 
springs, jump out from the sides of the 



misce;lI/Aneous discoveries and inventions. 



51 i 



base, and as they go through the ranks 
of the enemy cut and maim every man 
in their course. Then, after its work is 
nearly complete, it explodes and works 
more havoc. The knives when out- 
spread cover a diameter of forty-five 
inches, and it may be imagined what 
carnage such a missile will create in the 
rank of a closely lined infantry. 

Searchlights. 

These have brought about a great 
revolution in warfare. By their means 
lights and signals can be thrown many 
miles, and the work of the enemy in the 
night detected. The average search- 
light is made up of lenses and reflectors 
so as to condense or diffuse the light of 
a 25,000 candle-power electric arc lamp. 
They are made in the shape of a cylin- 
der about thirty inches deep and from 
two to three feet in diameter. In the 
back is a silver-backed reflecting lens, 
and at the front is a glass door. Within 
is an electric lamp placed at the focus- 
ing point of the lens. Between the 
glass door and the lamp is a smaller re- 
flecting lens that throws the light of the 
electric lamp into the large lens, and 
that lens in turn throws the concen< 
trated rays out through the glass dooi 
miles and miles into the night. 

The whole affair is mounted on a 
pedestal, and can be moved in any di- 
rection at will. The rays of light are 
generally kept together so that a beam 
3,000 feet away covers only the width 
of fifty feet. This, however, can be 
changed at will if desired. 

Torpedoes. 

These are the dread of all war ves- 
sels, and work as much havoc as any 
other weapon. They are shaped like a 



cigar, with propeller at the rear and an 
awful load of dynamite or gun-cotton 
at the nose. Inside is an electric stor- 
age battery attached to a motor that 
operates the propeller. When ready to 
be discharged at the enemy, a torpedo 
is placed in a compressed-air device that 
shoots it out into the water, aimed in 
a certain direction. The electric bat- 
tery has been turned on and the rudders 
so arranged that the torpedo will travel 
in a given angle. It drives forward at 
a great speed, the cap on the nose strikes 
the side of the ship and discharges the 
explosive, and the ship is torn into 
pieces. 

Submarine Mines. 

Mines are used for protection of the 
harbors against an incoming enemy. 
These are big bombs placed at the bot- 
tom of the harbor or straits and con- 
nected by electricity so that they may 
be fired off at will. Charts are made of 
the harbor, and so figured out that the 
attendant several miles away can look 
through a telescope at the approaching 
enemy, and can tell at just what mo- 
ment the intruder is over a given mine. 

He then turns a switch, and the great 
vessel of steel and iron is blown into the 
air with a vast volume of water, and 
rapidly sinks. Some mines are fast to 
buoys which float at the surface, so that 
when a vessel coming into the forbidden 
waters strikes one, an electric spark is 
carried down to the mine and it ex« 
plodes. 

Machine Guns. 
Among these the Gatling, Hotchkiss 
and Maxim are the deadliest because of 
their rapid fire. The Gatling has a 
number of barrels joired together side 
by side, and at a distance looks like a 



512 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



big stubby cannon. There are gen- 
erally about ten barrels, which revolve 
upon a pivot. Each chamber has a sep- 
arate lock which is discharged auto- 
matically when the barrel reaches its 
proper position. The machine is worked 
by a crank ; the cartridges are placed in 
a rack with grooves that let them slide 
down into their proper chambers as soon 
as the fired shells have been ejected. 
As many as 1,200 shots a minute have 
been fired by the Gatling gun. 

The Maxim differs in that it is wholly 
automatic ; after each recoil of a previous 
discharge the shock opens the breech, 
extracts the empty shell, takes a fresh 
cartridge, cocks the gun, pushes the shell 
into its chamber and fires the gun. The 
cartridges are loaded into the gun in a 
belt, and all the operator has to do 
to is pull the trigger the first time, 
and the belt is ground through at the 
rate of 600 shots a minute. 



The Armstrong gun is the largest of 
the rapid-fire guns. It is for large caliber 
shells, using 4^ pounds of smokeless 
powder, and throwing six-inch projectiles 
weighing loopounds with enough force 
to penetrate fifteen inches of wrought 
iron. A smaller gun of the same order 
fires forty-five pound shells at the rate 
of fifteen per minute. 

The Driggs-Schroeder and Hotchkiss 
rapid-fire guns are inventions of Ameri- 
cans, and are used largely on our battle 
ships, especially in the " fighting tops." 
These swing on pivots, so that they may 
be directed to any quarter. They fire 
one shot at a time, and to aim the gun 
an arm-piece similar to that of a rifle is 
attached. The gunner presses this 
against his shoulder and steadies it, 
while his two hands remain free to open 
the chamber, insert a shell, pull the 
trigger, and reload. It fires at the rate 
of thirty-six shots a minute. 



INVENTION OF THE BICYCLE. 



Among the inventions that came into 
popular use during the last quarter of 




DRAISINE — 1816. 

the century was the bicycle. Many 
years previous to this attempts were 



made to construct some vehicle by 
which the use of the horse could be set 
aside, yet its speed could be as- 
sured. As in nearly all inventions 
the first efforts were only partially 
successful and the machines that 
were built were not adapted to gen- 
eral use, and were therefore unsat- 
isfactory. 

All this has been obviated and it 
is evident that the bicycle has come 
to stay. No new method of loco- 
motion ever leaped so rapidly into 
public favor. While there have been 
differences of opinion as to the phy- 
sical advantages of cycling, the 
weight of this 'opinion is decidedly 
in favor of it. The exercise is health- 
ful when not overdone. Bven walk- 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 



513 



ing may be overdone, and is liable to 
the same objection that might be made 
against the wheel. A person must 
know when his ride has been long 




hobbyhorse; — 182 1 . 
enongh, and knowing this he should 
have will power enough to stop. 

It is nothing uncommon now to see 
business men in all parts of our coun- 
try making use of the bicycle. It gives 
promise of a more robust health and a 
better physique. 

Cycling has a short but brilliant his- 
tory of the past. In endurance man 
mounted on a cycle has beaten the 
strongest and fleetest of domestic ani- 



faster, but where is the horse that could 
cover forty miles under two hours, as 
not one but several cyclists have done in 
the fifty miles championship ? What 
horse could turn out morning after 
morning, and trot or gallop over a hun- 
dred miles a day, as have some cyclists ? 





V^ii"'"''-''-^^^ mals, the horse, out 
and out in a twenty- 
four hours' ride. What horse could 
compete against a cycler who covers, 
as some have done, over 300 miles a 
day ? Horses have trotted a mile rather 
33 



i.ai,i,e;me;nt's vklocipede— 1866. 

A practical knowledge of cycling tends 
to increase one's wonder at these "giant 
performances." 

At first the bicycle was likely to be 
regarded as merely a toy, while young 
and old attempted to ride it more for 
the purpose of seeing whether they 
could do it than for any other reason. 
The motion was ex- 
hilarating and the ex- 
ercise was lively, but 
not for these reasons 
would the bicycles be 
so universally used. 
There are other and 
important considerations. 

As already said, business men 
in large towns and cities make 
use of the bicycle instead of 
-* street cars and ordinary car- ,^ 

riaofes and horses. More and more the 
bicycle has come to be regarded as 
useful, and it is not likely that this use 
will be diminished. Postmen in the sub- 
urbs of cities and in country places em- 
ploy it ; errand boys make use of it 



514 



MISCELLANEOUS DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS, 



every wiiere, while at the same time as a 
vehicle for exercise and pleasure it is a 
popular favorite. 

Many improvements in handle bars, 
in lamps, in saddles, in fact, in all the 
various parts and appliances of the ma- 



chine have been made, and these have 
found ready favor with the general pub- 
lic. An immense amount of capital 
and a vast number of hands are em- 
ployed in the manufacture of this popu- 
lar invention for locomotion. 



TRAVELLING IN THE AIR. 



Scientists and mechanical engineers 
are looking for some one to bring to 
perfection a practical flying machine or 
air ship. They no longer laugh at the 
idea that aerial flight is a possibility, 
but instead say that it is not only a 
possibility but a strong probability. 

Lilienthal's Method. 

The reason for this is that a number 
of men have been steadily experiment- 
ing upon kites, aeroplanes and balloons, 
with the idea of being able sometime 
to direct them at will. Otto Lilienthal, 
a German inventor, came as near, per- 
haps, to perfection as any one yet, while 
Maxim, the gun inventor, was to some 
extent, successful. The latter built a 
machine eight feet wide and forty feet 
long, which by propulsion by screws 
made a number of flights. 

This wr.s not only successful in pro- 



pelling to some distance a machine 
through the air, but also carried its in- 
ventor. Near Berlin, Lilienthal built 
a tower about fifty feet high on a hill, 
and from this he sailed as far as six 
hundred feet in easy winds, sometimes 
against heavy winds, and on several oc- 
casions he reached a height greater 
than that from which he started. These 
experiments though they advanced the 
science of aeronautics, at last resulted in 
the inventor's death by collapse of his 
machine. Professors Chanute and Wil- 
liam Paul conducted a series of aero- 
plane flights at Dunne Park, Indiana, 
on the shores of Lake Michigan, which 
were in the main successful. No mo- 
tive power was used, the principle 
being that a slide down hill would lift 
the plane a distance into the air, and 
then by other planes and rudders, the ma- 
chine was kept in the air for some time. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



Inventions Applied to Railways and Canals. 



M 



OWN to 1850 progress in rail- 
way building was very slow, 
^ ^ but shortly after came a 
great "boom " in stocks, and 
the years succeeding 1865 were noted 
for their va^t strides in railway im- 
provements and construction. In 1830 
there were not twenty-five miles of rail 
in the whole country ; at the close of 
the century the total mileage of the 
United States was 184,532. This is 
about half the number of miles in the 
whole world. 

In 1850 nearly all the roads were con- 
fined to the North Atlantic States, but 
in the next decade a number of lines 
were pushed west to the Mississippi, 
and shortly after came the first great 
transcontinental system to the Pacific. 
The railroads built in the west were 
necessarily forerunners of civilization, 
and where the engine had to go under 
armed guard to keep off the attacks of 
the Indians, it was not to be expected 
that construction would be other than 
cheap. Towns did not have to be con- 
sulted as to rights-of-way, for towns 
followed rather than preceded the rail- 
road. 

As years went on, however, this cheap 
method of building was thrown out for 
new and modern improvements, and 
everywhere old wooden culverts were 
replaced by steel bridges, secure rock 
ballast took the place of the bedding 
that was formerly so easily washed out, 
and heavy and continuous steel rails 
form even and smooth tracks, instead 



of the old warped iron affairs. Curves 
have been straightened, steep and dan- 
gerous grades have been abandoned for 
cuts and tunnels, many murderous grade 
crossings have been bridged or tun- 
nelled, and the roads are supplied with 
block signals. 

All this takes enormous wealth, but 
the roads are constantly increasing in 
that direction. It is true that many 
improvements are yet to be expected, 
even with our "lightning flyers," ere 
travel will become perfect, but these 
improvements will be made. 

Vast Improvements. 
If the number of miles constructed 
has been great, even greater has been 
the development in the luxury and ease 
of travelling. In 1850 the continuous 
steel rail had not been invented, and the 
link-connected cars clattered along over 
the disjointed rails with a rattle and 
bang that was nerve destroying. The 
only conveniences then provided for, 
even on the ' ' through trains ' ' across the 
country, were a few telegraph blanks, a 
separate smoking apartment, and, in 
some cases, a buffet from which were 
served food and drink of a poor quality 
and enormous price. The night train 
was a thing unheard of and the Pull- 
man sleeper had not yet made Its ap- 
pearance. To-day one journeying from 
coast to coast need hardly give a thought 
as to his comforts after he has boarded 
the modern cross-oountry "flyer.'* 
Trains are really almost smooth-run- 

516 



516 



RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 



ning, and are equipped with every de- 
vice for comfort that man can imagine. 
Drawing-room, observation, dining, 
and sleeping cars arranged with an eye 
to artistic eifect as well as to luxurious 
comfort, are ever being improved upon 
by the companies, while electric and 
gas lights, vestibules between cars to 
keep out noise and dust, barber shops, 
buffet smoking cars, card rooms, and 
libraries and music rooms, with waiters 
and porters at every turn, are daily 
adding to the ease of travel, as well as 
to the pocketbooks of the railway mag- 
nets. To think, then, that all these 
devices will soon be applied to trains 
of cars running regularly across every 
continent on the globe is to wonder 
what will be the limit of man's power. 

Immense Engines. 

In the last year of the century trans- 
portation as represented by the gigantic 
railway system of the United States, 
with its 184, 532 miles of roads, recorded 
a healthy growth ; not so much by 
added mileage as by improved rolling 
stock and roadbed, more commodious 
stations, a faster time card and a slowly 
(too slowly) lessening casualty list. For 
the fast transcontinental mail trains 
exceptionally powerful express engines, 
with boilers of unusual capacity, were 
constructed, and the big freight engines 
of over 100 tons weight of the preced- 
ing year were followed by others of even 
greater weight. 

The steam locomotive continues to 
be unrivaled as a traction motor, for 
heavy or long distance work, notwith- 
standing the experiments with a com- 
bination steam-electric engine. The 
fastest trains in the world were those 
run on the Pennsylvania and Reading 



roads from Philadelphia to Atlantic 
City during the summer months. These 
trains, whose scheduled speed is sixty 
to seventy miles an hour, frequently 
made the runs of 55.5 and 58.3 miles at 
rates of from 68 to 74 miles and hour 
with trains weighing as high as 290 tons. 

Fastest Trains. 

The palm for the fastest regular ex- 
press service, however, must be awarded 
to the great French Railroad, Chemin 
de Fer du Nord, which is unapproached 
in the number and average speed of its 
fast trains. The service includes no 
less than forty-five trains, with a run- 
ning speed, including stops, of over 
fifty miles per hour, and of these no less 
than ten are timed to run at speeds of 
from fifty-four to sixty miles per hour. 
The service is worked by four-cylinder 
compound engines. 

The Great Boston Terminal Station, 
the largest structure of its kind in the 
world, was opened for traffic in 1899, 
and the Philadelphia subway and tun- 
nel, costing $6,000,000, were also com- 
pleted. In New York city awards were 
made for the construction of the tunnel 
road as a solution of the rapid transit 
problem. Besides the new East river 
bridge, under construction, two more 
were to be commenced at once, unless 
the tunnels proposed prove more econ- 
omical. The most important harbor 
improvement was the cutting of a 40 
foot channel in New York harbor. 

Electricity continued to oust every 
other form of power for street railway 
work ; indications were that for city 
work the underground trolley would be 
the exclusive system, with the over- 
head trolley for suburban and short in- 
ternrban lines. The electrical equip- 



RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 



517 



ment of steam roads did not progress as 
rapidly as anticipated, thongli the re- 
snlts of the third rail system on the 
New York, New Haven and Hartford 
Railroad were quite satisfactory, and 
extensions were planned. The great 
svstem of the Manhattan Elevated was 



there is one of similar nature being 
promoted by American capital that is 
to be called the International Rail- 
way, or the Pan-American Road. At 
the expense of ^25,000,000 it is to con- 
nect this country with the South Ameri- 
can states, starting from Matamoras, on 




Map op the Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern Railway. 

Showing the entire route from Port Arthur to St. Petersburg. The dotted line marks the sec- 
tion where work was not completed in 1900. 



to be electrically equipped, several 
thousand tons of third rail having been 
ordered in 1899. 

As the century entered upon its clos- 
ing year there were, in course of con- 
struction, two marvellous lines : one, 
the Trans-Siberian route, being laid by 
the Russian government from St. Peters- 
burg, Russia, to Port Arthur, China, 
thus taking in all the resources of un- 
known Siberia and China ; the other 
the " Cape to Cairo " route, as yet only 
partly built and partly on paper, but a 
marvel in imagination, extending from 
the Cape of Good Hope, at the most 
southern extremity of Africa, up 
through unknown savage lands to its 
northern terminal at the old capital of 
the Pharaohs, Cairo, Egypt 

Besides these two great undertakings, 



the Rio Grande border, running along 
the gulf coast to Guatemala, ihen along 
the border and down through the South 
American states to the Pacific coast, 
thus making a thread line from North 
to South America and connecting the 
two continents. 

Had Russia imagined in 1867 that she 
could ever have accomplished such a 
work of engineering skill as that of the 
construction of the Trans-Siberian and 
the Chinese Eastern Railways, she <iever 
would have sold to the United States foi 
the paltry sum of ^7,000,000 the great 
territory of Alaska. Instead she would , 
have been our neighbor, wityi a sea- 
port at Fort Wrangell, almost at our 
doors on Puget Sound, and England, 
with ever-watchful eyes, would turn 
from Russia at the s^ate of Herat to 



518 



RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 



Russia within a day's march of Vancou- 
ver. 

But the first work of building this 
great thread across a continent full of 
superstitious semi-savages was not com- 
menced till May 30, 1891, when the 
Czarovitch, on his way around the 
world, visited Vladivostok and drove 
the first spike. It was then thought 
that the Trans-Siberian could not be 
completed till 1905 or 1907. That was 
before the Chi no-Japanese War, and a 
route had already been mapped out 
along the southern portion of Siberia to 
Vladivostok, a port on the Pacific just 
north of Korea that is ice-bound all 
winter. This port was practically the 
only outlet for Russia on the Pacific, 
and accordingly great outlay was made 
for piers, ice-breakers, etc. 

But after Russia's aid to the Chinese 
in the war with Japan, China felt very 
grateful, and as a mark of esteem gave 
her benefactor great privileges in Man- 
churia, among which were the rights to 
build the Chinese Eastern Railway and 
to lease Port Arthur as its eastern ter- 
minus. This port is open the year 
round, so Russia at once gave up her 
other surveys along the Amur River, 
and instead began to throw out a line 
of roads to the south-east through the 
most fertile part of China, to end at 
Port Arthur, and with branches to 
Pekin and Vladivostok. 

The Trans-Siberian Road. 

This road is practically complete, and 
after an expenditure of ^i 50,000,000 has 
a through line from Irkutsk, on Lake 
Baikal, extending 4,000 miles to St. 
Petersburg. Across the lake to Misso- 
yaga trains are being carried on great 
steel barges or ferryboats. Beyond this 



point the road runs in more or less com- 
plete state in an easterly direction to 
Stretinsk, and from the port at Vladi- 
vostok directly northward to Khaba- 
rovka. The country lying between this 
latter point and Stretinsk was to have 
been covered by a line that would have 
directly connected St. Petersburg with 
Vladivostok. But with the donation 
from China, as said before, this line was 
abandoned, and now the eastern termi- 
nus of the Trans-Siberian route is at 
Stretinsk, while a little to the south and 
west of this point, at Kidalova, the main 
Russian line is tapped by the Chinese 
Eastern Railway. 

Marvellous Bridges. 

The work across Siberia was full of 
difficulties, much of the land never hav- 
ing been traversed by white men before. 
Convict labor has been used to a great 
extent, thereby cutting down expense. 
Expense has not been spared in. the least, 
however, to give good construction, and 
above all else is considered safety. 
Bridges that are marvels in civil engi- 
neering span numerous rivers between 
Stretinsk and St. Petersburg, twenty 
millions having been expended in this 
line alone. 

The largest and most costly of these 
is the great iron and stone affair that 
spans a distance of 3,150 feet over the 
Yenisei at Krasnoyarsk. It stands on 
five colossal circular stone piers, with 
matching stone abutments thrown 
over the river in five spans. The cost 
was $2,300,000 ; the work was designed 
by Knorre, once a German, but now a 
naturalized Russian. Another great 
bridge, costing $2,000,000, extends over 
the Obi River at Kolivan. During the 
winter, when the rivers are deeply 



RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 



619 



/rozen, sucli parts of the road as yet 
have no bridges are strung temporarily 
across on the thick ice, and later are 
replaced by steel culverts. 

Chinese Eastern Railroad. 

The work of most interest however, 
was that upon the Chinese Eastern 
Railway. Although in direct conjunc- 
. tion with the Trans-Siberian road, this 
'was entirely separate in its finances and 
outward dealings with the public. In 
1896 Russia contracted with China to 
build a road through Manchuria, guar- 
anteeing that the president should be a 
Chinaman, and that at the end of eighty 
years the entire ownership of the road 
was to pass to China upon payment. 
The route was at once mapped out, 
and for rapidity of construction this 
line holds the record. The work was 
done by Siberian convicts and Chinese 
coolies, while almost every tool and 
modern means of equipment is of Amer- 
ican manufacture. 

The guards along the route are mainly 
Cossacks, and they dress half in Chinese 
and half in Russian costume. The flag 
of the company is likewise half of one 
country and half of the other. Of 
course, the enterprise is wholly Rus- 
sian; and the result of this enterprise is 
startling. Cities have grown up all along 
the country that was formerly wilderness. 

To think of the wonderful civilizing 
effect of this railway is startling. The 
road covers like a hand 400,000 square 
miles of rich Chinese territory. The 
main line extends southwest from Ki- 
dalova to Vladivostok, while about mid- 
way it is tapped by a directly southern 
branch at a new town called Habin. 
From this point it runs to Port Arthur 
and to Pekin.. 



European methods are in the main 
crude along engineering lines, and 
American enterprise supplied this work 
with nearly everything from steel for 
bridges to pick-axes and cross-ties. 
Rock drills caused a great deal of trouble, 
however, among the native Chinese and 
also to some extent among the con- 
victs. It was impossible for these igno- 
rant people to understand the workings 
of such an engine without visible motive 
power, and they at once came to the 
conclusion that the work was done by 
the white man's "slave devil." The 
result was that 10,000 workmen struck, 
and it was only with the greatest diffi- 
culty ihat they were induced to return 
to work. Eventually they became 
amused at the workings of the machines, 
though they still thought them con- 
trolled by evil spirits. 

The Cape to Cairo Railway. 

What has been accomplished by the 
construction of such a great railway 
may be shown by noting that Habin, 
the junction of the two great railways, 
as well as headquarters of their officers, 
was not on the map at the close of 1899, 
and yet it is destined to be the Chicago 
of northern Asia. Already in this city 
are magnificent office buildings and 
dwellings, and broad and electrically 
lighted streets are being paved in the 
most approved methods. Palatial steam- 
ships arrive and depart daily, and ma- 
chine shops, banks, ice-factories and^ 
other enterprises are numerous. To 
sum up the gigantic effort, a trip of 10,- 
000 miles, or nearly half way round the 
world, can soon be made without chang- 
ing cars ! 

Were English capital being invested 
for the building of the Trans-Siberian 



620 



RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 



and Chinese Eastern railways, we 
might see the value of the specula- 
tion, for it is only that nation that 
has colonies scattered all over the globe 
that will greatly benefit by easy means 
of communication between them. Rus- 
sia, however, is not building these 
great distance-bridging webs of steel 
for the money there is in it ; rather for 
the purpose of bringing her great do- 
mains together. 

But if Russia is outlaying millions 
of capital in a costly venture, England 
is risking still more in the scheme 
to build a railway throughout the 
length of Africa from the Cape of 
Good Hope to Cairo. Cecil Rhodes, 
the genius of South Africa, promul- 
gated the idea, and though capital 
has been scarce for the purpose, yet 
probably by 19 lo the most gigantic 
of all daring feats will have been 
completed. From point to point the 
distance to I t covered is about 6,600 
miles. 

Of this over 3,000 miles is already 
constructed, but the remaining por- 
tion, 3,200 miles, is yet to be strung 
across the most difficult stretches of 
land in all Africa. The total cost of 
the whole enterprise is estimated at 
$125,000,000, but as the northern and 
southern extremities are already laid, 
it will need only about $75,000,000 
more. 

Ninety Miles an Hour. 

Speed on railway trains has been 
developed to at least ninety miles an 
hour between stops on level road. 

This has been done in actual work 
of carrying mails, and was the out- 
come of a race against time that took 
place January i, 1899, on both the 



C, B. & O. and the Noitliwesteru 
railways on their respective lines run- 




MAP OP the; route op the "cape to 

CAIRO" RAII^WAY. 



RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 



521 



ning from Chicago to Omaha. With 
our new possessions in the Pacific Ocean 
any time saved on the way to the coast 
is of importance, and it was to secure 
mail contracts to these points that such 
speed was shown. 

It is no uncommon event to travel at 
the rate of fifty miles an hour, includ- 
ing stops, but extremely high rates of 
speed are not usually developed on 
passenger trains. When ninety miles 
are whizzing past in sixty minutes it 
taxes to the utmost the nerves of the 
engineer. All sorts of sights and noises 
are magnified in the night, and even if 
engines are improved to fly at the rate 
of 150 miles an hour — which it is said 
will before long be possible — the driver 

GREAT CANALS 

For nearly a century after the dis- 
covery of America, explorations were 
made to find the straits that were sup- 
posed to exist between the northern and 
southern halves of the continent. At 
last, when the Isthmus of Panama was 
found, engineers at once began to 
dream of an artificial waterway to link 
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The 
canal routes that have received the most 
publicity are those of Panama and Ni- 
caragua. Both of these were under way 
in 1900, though the Panama had ex- 
pended the more money and was nearer 
completion. The United States gov- 
ernment interested itself in the Nica- 
caragua plan, and authorized an expen- 
diture of ^i 15,000,000 on than route. 

The Panama Route. 

In 1900 this canal was cut two-fifths 

of the way across the Isthmus from 

Colon on the Atlantic side to Panama 

on the Pacific, and the cost of complet- 



of the engine would be able to run his 
train only a few years before he would 
be a physical wreck. 

With the improved headlights sha- 
dows are increased, and though the long 
stream of light aids in detecting breaks 
on the track at night, such a thing as a 
small fly travelling over the face of the 
lamp is enlarged to great size in a 
shadow on the track. The wind whizzes 
by, and when another train at an equal 
speed of ninety miles an hour from an 
opposite direction passes by, the two 
are coming together at the rate of 180 
miles an hour. With all these strains, 
the engineer wishes to reduce rather 
than to increase the speed and thus 
I have fewer risks. 

OF THE WORLD. 

ing it was estimated at ^102,000,000. 
The route at first lay over twenty-five 
miles of river, eight miles of the Cor- 
dilleras mountains that had to be cut 
down from 100 to 325 feet, and a great 
part in bottom lands. Great floods of 
the Chagres River and the opening up 
of the damp soil causing sickness neces- 
sitated the change of route. Estimates 
showed $87,000,000 to be necessary for 
completion, and eight or ten years' time 
in which to do the work. 

The route as laid out is forty-six 
miles long with the same ports as be- 
fore, only the Chagres River is not 
used and in its place canals are to be 
dug. From Colon fifteen miles is 
straight cut canal ; after that comes a 
dam which by controlling the waters 
of the Chagres will flood the country 
for 13^ miles, with an artificial lake. 
This lake is to be used as a channel of 
the canal, and at the other end follows 
a section of canal five miles long which 



622 



RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 



is the highest of the whole route, sixty- 
eight feet above the sea. Six locks al- 
together control the water between the 
sections, while another artificial lake 
nine miles north of the main route, 
caused by another dam, will supply wa- 
ter in dry season. 

The Nicaragua Canal 
While well indorsed, this is a great deal 
more difficult task than the Panama, 
and but a small part of the work has 
been done. It is to extend from Grey- 
town on the Atlantic, to Brito on the 
Pacific, using as main channels Lake 
Nicaragua and the San Juan River. 
Six locks control the water, and the 
hardest part of the plan is to build a 
series of dams, some of them 6,000 feet 
long, to check the flow of the San Juan 
River so that the whole valley will be 
flooded and make an immense artificial 
stream connecting with the lake. 

Short and steep "canals are built at 
each end of the route and connect the 
lake and river with the oceans. The 
route is 169 miles long as compared to 
forty-six on the Panama, while the sum- 
mit level, or highest point, is 154 miles 
long, with one end but thirteen miles 
and the other two miles from the oceans. 
Should a break occur in one of the Ni- 
caragua locks, half this stretch would 
be emptied of water and the vessels in 
transport would be stranded. With both 
these routes in construction a waterway 
across the Isthmus is assured before 
1910. 

Chicago Drainage Canal. 

One of the greatest enterprises in the 
line of canal building was finished by the 
Sanitary District of Chicago, and con- 
sists of an artificial waterway connecting 



the waters of the Chicago River with 
those of the Mississippi. For years the 
filth of the Chicago River was such as 
to give the stream the name of "sewer." 
The refuse from numerous factories 
emptied into it, and in heavy weather 
or after a thaw these waters flowed far 
out into Lake Michigan, from which 
Chicago gets its water supply, thus 
being a great menace to the health of 
the inhabitants. The opening of this 
canal effectually turned back the waters 
of the river from its mouth and made 
the stream flow towards its source. 

Reaches the Mississippi. 

Virtually Lake Michigan thus has 
an outlet to the Gulf of Mexico, the 
water flowing steadily up the river and 
out through the cut that joins the river 
at its south branch and over a rocky 
bed and between stone walls to Lock- 
port, Illinois, where a great controlling 
dam is situated that lets the water into 
the Des Plaines River. From this 
point the river runs by way of the Des 
Plaines, through the town of Joliet, to 
the Illinois River, and thence into the 
Mississippi. 

The canal is 160 feet wide, is made 
of six-foot thick masonry, and is deep 
enough to admit ocean vessels, while it 
has a capacity of 600,000 cubic feet of 
water a minute. Part of the route lay 
along clay beds, and here the work of 
construction was the easiest ", elsewhere 
it lay along solid rock, and here blast- 
ing had to be done ; another part lay 
along a prairie, and there a wall of 
stone thirteen miles long had to be built. 

To remedy the sewage problem of 
Chicago the whole sewer system had to 
be reversed, and the refuse matter made 
to flow out to the canal instead of into 



RAILWAYS AND CANALS. 



52?5 



ihe lake as before. To do this large 
intercepting- sewers were constructed 
underground, connecting the larger 
sewer mains and emptying into the 
south branch of the river. It took seven 
years to construct the canal and about 
$32,000,000 were expended. The money 
for this was raised by taxes, but a large 
income will be derived from the use of 
power developed by the fall of the water 
over the dam at the big controlling 
works at Lockport. 

The Keil Ship Canal. 

The great ship canal which is des- 
tined to connect the Baltic with the 
Black Sea, work on which was begun 
in 1898 by the Russian government, 
has been pushed forward with the great- 
est zeal and at the same time with a 
quietness amounting almost to secrecy. 
When finished the work, on account of 
its immensity and the almost insupera- 
ble difficulties to be overcome, will be 
worthy of a place beside such modern 
wonders as the St. Gothard Tunnel and 
the Suez Canal. 

The route unites the River Dnieper, 
which flows into the Black Sea, with 
the Dwina, which empties into the 
Baltic Sea at Riga. It starts at Riga, 
following the course of the Duna Ri-^rer 
as far as Duneberg, where it is united 



to the Beresina by means of an immense 
course cut right through the country. 
The Beresina and the Dnieper are then 
used to complete the connection. The 
total length of the line is about 1,000 
English miles, one-eighth of the distance 
being artificially cut through the land. 

Dimensions of the Canal. 

The canal is about 307 feet wide, and 
about thirty feet deep, thus allowing 
the largest vessels means of passing 
from one sea to the other. Seventeen 
large ports, or artificial bays, are to be 
constructed along the line as well, each 
capable of containing a large number of 
ships, so that a Russian vessel, how- 
ever large it may be, may make the en- 
tire transit in six days without hin- 
drance of any kind. 

The cost of the work, at the lowest 
estimate, and taking into consideration 
the means at the disposal of the Rus- 
sian government as to the adoption of 
unpaid labor, will amount to about 
$120,000,000. The whole passage is 
kept within the limits of the Russian 
Empire, thus allowing Russia absolute 
sovereignty over the entire course. Put- 
ting aside the great political advantages 
given to Russia by the new enterprise, 
the gain commercially and economically 
will be an incalculable one. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



Progress of Agriculture During the Century, 




|0 department of human activity 
has shown more rapid andsatis- 

^ V factory progress than agri- 

culture. As compared with 
the crude ideas, methods and imple- 
ments that characterized the beginning 
of the century, the advance exhibited 
at its close seems almost miraculous. 
This has been the creative period of 
agriculture. Original in its movements, 
it has propounded and settled problems 
of great moment to civilization. In the 
rapidity of its advance it has acquired 
more than during the previous sixteen 
centuries. A brief review will be given 
of a few of its lines of advance. 

Chemistry had so rapidly progressed 
that, in 1803, Sir Humphrey Davy de- 
livered a series of lectures to a farmers' 
club in London, earning thereby the 
title of " father of agricultural chemis- 
try." Combustible materials were then 
regarded as the essential elements of 
plant nutrition, and mineral matters, 
as mainly of accidental presence in the 
plant. The next thirty years witnessed 
developments in the physical sciences, 
which, coupled with observations of 
farm investigators, added much to the 
stock of facts essential to the formula- 
tion of general farm laws. 

The imperfect methods of plant ana- 
lysis of Davy's time now assumed a far 
greater accuracy. In 1835 Boussingault 
of France founded a private experiment 
station and carried forward brilliant 
original investigations touching the 
chemistry and fertility of the soil and 
524 



plant and animal physiology. From 
1824 to 1840 the masterly genius of 
lyiebig massed original and acquired 
data that resulted in announcements, 
through a work in 1840, of facts which 
mark an era in farming. 

Famous Discoveries. 

■ The prolific data and broad general^ 
izations of Liebig inspired active in- 
vestigations which have given an as- 
tonishing volume of facts. Between 
1838 and 1840 Sir John B. Laws, aided 
by Dr. Gilbert and ten to fifteen other 
assistants, began his investigations, now 
world famous and invaluable. The 
Royal Agricultural Society of Englsind 
employed, in 1843, Professor Voelker 
for scientific study of farm questions, 
and he rendered important service. 
The Highland Society of Scotland like- 
wise employ an expert. In 1852 the 
first efficient official experiment station 
for the study of farm problems was 
founded in Leipsic, Saxony. 

Europe and the United States now 
boast of several hundred stations, pri- 
vate and public. Bach employs from 
one to five trained investigators. Vol- 
unteers, at the agricultural colleges of 
two continents, swell the list of origi- 
nal workers. No age, industry, or pro- 
fession parallels the numbeis, enthu- 
siasm, and success of these investiga- 
tors. They are collecting the richest, 
broadest, and most useful professional 
literature of the age — the outcome of 
the most complex of the industries, of 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 



52^ 



the one wliich virtually determines the 
price of food. Investigators in other 
fields have swelled the volume of facts 
applicable to agriculture ; for chemistry, 
botany, physiology, anatomy, geology, 
mineralogy, entomology, and physics 
are the foundation sciences upon which 
rational farming is based. 

We Know the Soil. 

These investigations have made us 
acquainted with the physical properties 
of the soil and taught us how to modify 
them, regulating the amount of mois- 
ture by frequent and shallow tillage. 
They have informed us of the chemical 
composition of soils and plants and 
taught us that "all plant food acts 
through its constituents," which are as 
valuable from artificial as from natural 
sources. These have been made avail- 
able through mechanical and chemical 
agencies, thus vastly increasing the pos- 
sibilities of the soil and of population. 

Chemistry has enabled us to discover 
the sources of plant food ; it has founded 
ihe trade in fertilizers — a trade amount- 
ing to millions of dollars in a single 
State of the United States — and modi- 
fied the type, while increasing the vigor 
and efficiency, of European agriculture. 
It has given us the proximate food con- 
stituents of i^lants and their functions 
in animal nutrition, enabling us, in 
connection with discoveries in animal 
physiology, to formulate a rational sys- 
tem of food combinations which afford 
for each class of animals, for each speci- 
fic purpose, enough, and no more, of 
albuminous and carbonaceous constitu- 
ents for the desired end. This results 
in a great saving of food and in the 
iitilization of the poorer classes of foods. 
These scienti5c investigations have 



acquainted us, also, with the causes 
and remedies of many animal diseases, 
and, through Pasteur's researches, 
taught us that, through inoculation 
with weakened virus, certain contagious 
diseases may be defied. As a result, 
eighty-five thousand sheep were vacci- 
nated in one department in France. 
They have given us the life history 
of fungi and insects and, in fact, the 
means for combating these destroyers 
of hundreds of millions of food plants 
annually. 

Nourishment of Plants. 

They are now asserting that parasitic 
growths find their most congenial field 
with plants whose low vitality results 
from improper nourishment, and that, 
by the application of potash salts or 
other food constituents, health may be 
restored even to plants affected by yel- 
lows or by blight. They have proven 
that quality in plants is a flexible fac- 
tor subject to modification by fertiliza- 
tion, by modifying soil, or by the breed- 
er's art. Through these influences, 
from Napoleon's time, the sugar pro- 
duct from the sugar-beet has been more 
than doubled in its percentage. 

Varieties of fruits, vegetables, and 
grains have been amazingly multiplied, 
and edible products have been converted 
from coarse and flavorless fruits into 
such as please the palate, thus creating 
demand. One American tested six 
thousand varieties of potatoes, which 
fact serves as an illustration of the 
work in this direction. The breadth 
of the acquired facts forbids special- 
izing. They touch every phase of 
farming, and have modified, or are in 
the process of modifying every import- 
ant farm operation. 



526 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 



Astounding as it may seem, this is 
the first age to acquire exact facts in 
farming. Knowledge is needed to re- 
place conjecture. Farm facts are farm 
forces. They broaden the policy and 
invigorate the system of the farmer. 
Divorced from tradition and uncer- 
tainty, the farmer, relying upon prin- 
ciples in practice, substitutes a vigor- 
ous for a timid policy. On the farmer 
himself the outcome is a happy in- 
fluence. The unthinking working ma- 
chine is replaced by the broad, self-re- 
liant director of natural forces and arti- 
ficial appliances. 

New Methods. 

This period is marked by a radical 
change in the character of farm litera- 
ture. It is no longer an exposition of 
practices — a list of old processes — mere- 
ly, but is a teacher of principles upon 
which good practices may be founded. 
It is far from being implied that farm- 
ing is an exact science. It will long 
remain an art dependent upon acute 
observation and executive capacity 
quite as much as on pure science. Wed 
science to these factors, and an unques- 
tionable gain of power accrues to the 
farmer; for he who works in harmony 
with law works to the best advantage, 
everything else being equal. A few 
only of the more important works in 
English, originally or by translation, 
of the great mass of farm literature due 
to the period, and which marks the 
new paths entered upon by agriculture, 
can be mentioned. 

In 1 8 1 2 Sir Humphrey Davy published 
the first reputable work upon agricul- 
tural chemistry. In 1834 Professor 
James F. W. Johnson, of Scotland, pub- 
lished a most commendable work, for 



the day, upon "Agricultural Chemis- 
try," originating in his lectures to a 
farmers' club. Liebig was the author 
of a notable work, entitled "Chemistry 
in its Application to Agricultiire and to 
Physiology." This work had a great 
reputation and aided in developing gen- 
eral chemistry and physiology, apart 
from its influence on agriculture. It 
went through six editions. In 1844 
Boussingault's "Economic Rurale" ap- 
peared. 

Experiment Stations. 

Since this formative period of modern 
agricultural literature a number of im- 
portant works have appeared, more 
valuable than those named but of less 
comparative importance ; among these 
are forty yearly reports of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England, con- 
taining the original work of its chemist 
and others. Of a like character are the 
reports of the Highland Agricultural 
Society. Darwin's "Plants and Ani- 
mals under Domestication," and Lou- 
don's encyclopaedias of agriculture and 
of gardening have achieved interna- 
tional reputation. 

The experiment stations and agri- 
cultural colleges have issued a countless 
number of phamphlets of experiment 
work. Boards of agriculture have added 
libraries of matter, largely compilation, 
to the general fund of literature. The 
agency of the agricultural press is daily 
observed, and displays the reading 
farmer as a growth of the present gen- 
eration. A unique feature of the present 
is the recognition of the farmer as an 
intellectual factor of the times, by the 
general press. Most papers now devote 
a column or more to agriculture, but no 
stated space to other industries. There 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 



527 



has been a steady increase of attention, 
on the part of scientific and literary 
monthlies, to the literature and science 
of husbandry. 

The significance of the growth of 
farm literature will be better appre- 
hended if considered in connection with 
the increase of the schools and associa- 
tions organized in furtherance of indus- 
trial education and progress. 

Agricultural Societies. 

Organizations for the promotion of 
agriculture had their origin in the pre- 
vious century, one at its beginning, in 
Italy, and another in 1723, in Scotland; 
yet no considerable advancement was 
made during the eighteenth century. 
The Highland Society of Scotland, 
founded in 1783, and the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society of England, founded in 
1838, have, each, several thousand mem- 
bers, and specialists for original work 
and fortesting seeds, foods, and fertiliz- 
ers. Similar societies, lesser and local 
ones, and fair associations exist in all 
the continental nations. The board of 
agriculture established in England in 
1793, of which Arthur Young was sec- 
retary, has its type in State boards of 
agriculture in most of the States of the 
United States, all under State aid. 

Farm organizations have flourished 
best in the United States, where land 
ownership and education of farmers are 
more general. Farmers' clubs and fairs 
are innumerable, and have been effective 
aids in farm advancement. The Patrons 
of Husbandry, organized in 1867 in the 
United States, is the most comprehen- 
sive and far reaching organization of 
farmers ever known; it had, atone time, 
thirty thousand subordinate branches or 
"granges," numbering two and one-haif 



million of members. While it has in- 
creased the political significance of the 
farmer, its greatest good consists in its 
influence upon the social and intellectual 
growth of the farmer family as the unit 
of farm life. 

Governments Interested. 

Central governments, recognizing 
cheap bread and abundant "materials 
of art" as the sources of national sta- 
bility and wealth, have formed, under 
varying names, at national expense, 
"departments of agriculture'* to pro- 
mote farming. In France it was organ- 
ized in 1834 as "Minister of Agricul- 
ture and Commerce," and, in 1881, re- 
organized as "Minister of Agriculture," 
with departments for forestry, vine cul- 
ture, etc. Prussia established a " Miu' 
istry of Agriculture" in 1848, and 
Austria did likewise in 1867, Italy 
appointed a * ' Minister of Agriculture, 
Industry and Commerce" in 1883. 
lycsser continental nationalities give 
official assistance to agriculture. The 
United States founded a distinct "De- 
partment of Agriculture " in 1862, It 
issues monthly and annual reports, also 
special reports of its statistical, chemicaly 
entomological, botanical, and forestr)) 
experts. 

These general movements mark the 
growth of a complex and important in- 
dustry. Founded upon the needs of 
society and the results of profound scien- 
tific research in the natural sciences, the 
impulse cannot stop short of industrial 
schools to teach the science and art 
of agriculture ; for the materials of in- 
formation provoke their systematic 
I study. 

I In schools of agriculture we have the 
j great mrlnstrial educational movement 



528 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 



of the age, whose culmination is clearly 
in the future. Prussia, which furnished 
the destroyers of the old agriculture, 
erected the first agricultural college, for 
the agriculture of the new civilization, 
at Moglin, under Von Thaer's manage- 
ment. It taught mathematics, geology, 
botany, veterinary science, chemistry, 
and other sciences. A farm was con- 
nected with it for practical instruction. 
In 1 806 Fellenberg founded a school of 
agriculture in Switzerland. France de- 
voted an old royal palace at Grignan 
with its lands to the same purpose. In 
181 5 private funds established the Royal 
Agricultural College at Cirencester, 
England. A chair of agriculture was 
established at Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 

Thorough Education. 

This early movement has been fol- 
lowed by the development of systems of 
agricultural education in Europe and 
the United States. In 1862 the United 
States donated to each State in the 
Union thirty thousand acres for the 
founding of agricultural and mechanical 
colleges. Independent colleges were es- 
tablished by some of the States. Other 
States made the agricultural colleges 
departments of elder institutions, while 
some have entirely ignored the pur- 
poses of the donation, and used the 
funds received to sustain established 
colleges. The first class, thus far, has 
achieved the greatest success. The 
Province of Ontario established an agri- 
cultural college in 1874. 

Further facts are needless to mirror 
the grand movement in agriculture in 
this age in the directions named. Can- 
dor compels the statement that agri- 
cultural colleges are not the offspring 
of a wide popular demand, but rather 1 



are the children of the discerning few 
who sought to create by them a popular 
demand for industrial education by the 
farmer. The fruition of their hopes 
has been somewhat deferred, but is as- 
sured. 

A pioneer movement, it had at first 
no trained men to guide it. Scholastic 
men first in charge of the new schools 
did not comprehend the breadth of the 
art and science under their charge. 
They did not at first understand that 
these schools should maintain the same 
relation to farming which the medical 
colleges does to the medical profession, 
which the law school does to the legal 
profession, or which the school of engi- 
neering does to the art it seeks to give 
proficiency in ; but they assumed that 
the education of the citizen was the 
education of the farmer. 

Schools of Industry. 

It is the work of industrial schools to 
educate the specialist. With the accum- 
ulation of industrial data and experience 
by the teachers of agriculture, agricul- 
tural education has become more per- 
manently industrial and capable of dis- 
arming the prejudices of farmers. The 
problem is not solved. Its blended art 
and science, the variety of its depart- 
ments, the complexity of its laws as 
viewed by the practical farmer — an in- 
tellectual and mercantile industrialist — 
conspire to make agricultural education 
the gravest education of the age. 

It has been asserted that the plow is 
typical of prevailing civilization ; cer- 
tainly it is of the condition of agricul- 
ture. No period of human progress is 
recalled that was not accompanied by 
an improved plow. Typical of the art 
of agriculture, the assertion is safe that 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 



629 



both material and intellectual progress 
rest heavily upon it. Judge Gould said 
that "it has passed into a maxim that 
the plow lies at the foundation of all 
wealth and is the basis of all civiliza- 
tion." Says another : "When tillage 
begins other arts follow ; farmers, there- 
fore, are the founders of civilization." 

Majority of Farmers. 

History shows that wherever an in- 
different agriculture is prosecuted, there 
a large proportion of the population is 
engaged in bread-raising. A small pro- 
portion of the population is thus left to 
prosecute the arts and to broaden intel- 
lectual culture. Art and literature re- 
quire the patronage of a high agricul- 
ture, as it is not only the source of 
wealth but is the greatest purchasing 
power. Spain, Austria, Russia, Turkey, 
India, or present Egypt illustrate the 
influence of a low agriculture on the 
development of art and literature. The 
United States, from the start, has pro- 
portionally decreased in rural popula- 
tion, and yet has largely increased food 
exportations notwithstanding the won- 
derful growth of its manufacturing in- 
dustries and people. 

The century opened with improve- 
ments made and projected which prac- 
tice had not utilized. The progress of 
the plow, in view of its important re- 
lations, will be briefly traced. The 
wooden plow with mould-board covered 
with iron straps, with straight beam, 
iron coulter, and crooked roots tij)ped 
with cattle-horns for handles, long held 
sway against the cast-iron plow that 
"poisoned the soil," and was not en- 
tirely driven from the field until 1850. 
Its construction and method of use 
necessitated double the tractive force 
Z4 



required in the use of the steel plow of 
the present day. 

After Jefferson' s clear enunciation of 
the mechanical principle involved in 
plow construction, the shape of the 
mould-board gradually improved. Em 
pirical and mathematical tests at length 
gave a mould-board that kept free of 
dirt, and rended the soil while per- 
fectly inverting it. The solid cast-iron 
plow of the beginning of the century 
was replaced, in 18 19, by a plow which 
was cast in pieces — an invention of 
Jethro Wood. A little later a single 
iron truck under the beam was used. 
In coulters, bridle adjustments, beams, 
handles, lightness and quality of mater- 
ial, the plow improved until the fifth 
decade, when its character produced a 
sharp demand. 

New Implements. 

The swivel plow, steel plow, double 
plow, subsoiler, cylinder-plow patterns 
for various soils, steam plow, double 
landside plow, sulky plow, screw pul- 
verizer, rolling cutters, all in manifold 
forms, have kept pace with the march 
of the industries. Who shall view the 
polished steel of the modern sulky plow 
and feel that the plow is not a fit emblem 
of agriculture and an index of the world's 
progress ? While steam is successfully 
applied to the plow in England, the 
fancy may be pleased to note that elec- 
tricity has been applied to the plow in 
France by way of trial and also in the 
United States. 

The Reaper is second only to the plow, 
projected in the last century, the first 
one in successful use was invented by 
Patrick Bell of Carmylie, Scotland, in 
1826, Better machines were intro- 
duced by Obed Hussey in 1833 and by 



530 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 



McCormick in 1834, both of the United 
States. Improvements continued until 
1850, when they first began to come 
into general use in the United States, 
where costly labor encouraged them. 

Before this the sickle and scythe 
I gathered the grain of the world, and yet 
do for many peoples. The necessities 
of the American Civil War brought the 
reaper rapidly forward. One man, brute 
force, and mechanism replace, by the 
twine-binder, eight to ten men with cra- 
dles, or many more with the sickle. The 
plow and the reaper have produced the 
phenomenal United States, the largest 
food exporting nation of the world, yet, 
with very few exceptions, having the 
smallest proportion of agricultural popu- 
lation. 

Great Improvements. 

Oxen and cait-wheels, but the flail 
mainly, continued in use far into the 
century. To-day the steam thresher 
goes about from farm to farm, threshing 
a thousand or more bushels per day. 
Lesser implements have kept pace with 
the greater in the multiplication of 
kinds and forms. The square, wooden- 
toothed, packing, turf-turning harrow 
of the early part of this period has been 
generally superseded by harrows of 
nameless forms of the best materials of 
the day. The heaxjy, blunt, iron shovel 
is replaced by the light, thin, steel 
shovel ; the straight-handled, heavy, 
flat-tined manure-forks, by the light, 
oval-tined, crooked-handled fork. 

Of the handy, nearly perfect small 
tools, for every operation of the orchard 
and farm, it is impossible to speak. 
The horse hay-forks, the hay-loaders, 
stackers, grain-drills, planters, horse- 
rakes, cultivators, and farm wagons 



deserve passing notice. The greatest 
mechanical improvements for the farm 
have been achieved by the Americans, 
and by other English-speaking peoples. 
In Spain, Italy, Austria, and Russia, the 
awkward tools — even the wooden plow 
of the eighteenth century — are still 
seen. The spiritless aims and methods 
born of the feudal system have left their 
influence on the agriculture of these 
countries. 

Agriculture in Europe. 

Ownership of land and the unlimited 
opportunities which it gives have aided 
German agriculture ; but, in spite of its 
stations and colleges of agriculture, it 
still clings to unwieldy implements. 
The stimulus of the great markets of 
England has obscured, in part, the mis- 
chiefs of the lease system of its great 
estates, — four-fifths of England being 
owned by 7,000 landlords. The Revo- 
lution gave France small estates ; it has 
7,846,000 land-owners. This extreme 
subdivision of estates hinders the use of 
the most improved tools, binds a man to 
a limited circle in the growing of the 
great staple crops, and, in France, marks 
his steps with wooden shoes. 

Machinery has not only released a 
large fraction of the farm labor to prose- 
cute other industries and, at the same 
time, increased the products per capita 
by performing better work, .but has 
shortened the hours and lightened the 
labor of the farmer. The losses result- 
ing from old-time practices have thus 
been avoided ; for instance, in past 
times, haying in New England was not 
finished until late in September, while 
now it is generally completed in July, 
thus saving time, money, and material. 
Few results of the progress of agricul- 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 



531 



ture, more marked than the contrast 
between the farm homes of to-day and 
two centuries ago, are seen. The con- 
trast need not be drawn, for the advance 
is the advance of general society, the 
latter being quite as full and commend- 
able. 

Machinery for Everything. 

Much of the advance of the present 
times consists in the perfecting of old 
methods. With better plows we plow 
better. With concave steel plates which 
roll on common axes we lighten the 
soil, without inversion of the turf as by 
the use of the old square, harrow, whose 
wedge-shaped, turf-turning teeth packed 
the fine soil. 

With machinery we pulverize and 
spread manure and sow grain more 
evenly than by old hand processes. 
With corn-planters one man is enabled 
to do the work of ten and leave the corn 
in better position for machinery for after 
tillage. With the smoothing harrow, 
with its fine, slanting teeth, sixteen 
acres of corn can be weeded in a day ; 
while thirty-two men with hand hoes 
would not stir this surface daily. The 
economy of shellers, rakes, stackers, and 
other labor-savers on the farm need not 
be traced. 

The gain is not alone in quantity but 
extends to quality of work. The man- 
agement of a field of corn from turf to 
harvest-time will illustrate the gain in 
tillage. A sulky plow drawn by three 
horses and controlled by one driver will 
often turn three acres a day. The old 
bar-share plow needed three or four 
pairs of oxen and as many men for its 
management in plowing one acre daily. 

Machinery plants an acre of corn 
hourly, while hand-method of planting 



required a day or more. One man now 
cares for fifty acres of corn against three 
or four by the old order. From sod to 
harvest, two and one-half days' work are 
required to raise an acre of corn, while 
thirteen days' labor were required fifty 
years before. 

Among specific advances may be 
mentioned drainage, which has improved 
greatly, and vastly extended in area. 
Tile drainage is a product of this cen- 
tury and was little known until the 
middle of it. So firm a footing has it, 
that the British government loans its 
credit to private drainage efforts ; and 
in the United States immense capital is 
invested in this manufacture. The cul- 
tivation of the grasses, also, is a product 
of modern times having its greatest 
impetus in the nineteenth century. The 
great hay grass of the United States, 
timothy, was unknown to English farms 
until about 1760. Now we have man}'' 
species of grasses advertised by seeds- 
men. We adapt our grasses to soil and 
purpose of feeding. 

Variety of Grasses. 
This utilization of the grasses paved 
the way for the marvellous development 
of our domestic animals and their pro- 
ducts, as seen in the present century. 
The bony, narrow-loined, thin-thighed, 
flat-sided steer of the past, requiring five 
years to mature, has been supplanted by 
his opposite, — an animal raised in one- 
half of the time and at two-thirds of the 
expense, with the choicest parts devel- 
oped almost to perfection. Breeding to 
special purposes has produced in three 
hundred and sixty-four days a calf 
weighing twelve hundred pounds ; it has 
intensified qualities and increased prices 
enormously. In 18 10 CoUings sold 



532 



PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE DURING THE CENTURY. 



"Comet," a "short-horn" bull, for 
^5,000, the highest price theretofore 
paid; but, in 1873, Campbell sold, at 
New York Mills, a cow for ;^40,6oo. 

The butter product of cows has pro- 
bably fully doubled, but this is uncer- 
tain. Butter for common use is a pro- 
duct of this age, and is most in use by 
English-speaking peoples. Americans 
consume about fifteen pounds per capita. 
Grass or hay and better breeding and 
feeding has made this consumption 
possible. 

Famous Sheep. 

The merino sheep has certainly dou- 
bled its wool product. In 1800 the 
best bucks yielded only nine to thirteen 
pounds ; now multitudes are shearing 
ever thirty pounds, while forty pounds 
is not unknown. The fineness of the 
fibre has been increased greatly, the 
number of fibres to the square inch 
varying from 7,000 to 48,000. These 
facts may serve to illustrate the advance 
in interest in the animal kingdom. 

In the vegetable kingdom, as already 
stated, rapid strides have taken place. 
Chemistry has taught us that liquid 
manure constitutes one-half of the value 
of animal voidings, and that the solids 
suffer from leaching rains. The sav- 
ing and applying of manures has thus 
been greatly perfected. Chemistry gave 
us chemical manures, and from the im- 
portation of guano in 1840 their use has 
grown. Older countries use chemicals 
very largely. 

Seed breeding has multiplied varieties 
UJ^til they are not only nameless in num- 



ber and improved in quality, but much 
superior in prolificacy. Critical experi- 
ments have shown that size, density, 
and parentage affect quantity and qual- 
ity of product. Darwin and others have 
shown that crop-fertilized plants, par- 
ticularly of some genera, are much 
more vigorous than self-fertilized plants. 
Hot-house propagation has greatly ex- 
tended the season which many products 
can be enjoyed by the masses. Bven 
night has been converted into day by 
electric light, and plants thereby stimu- 
lated into continuous growth, while 
steam-pipes in the soil have given to it 
a tropical temperature in January. 

A Ruling Power. 

When it is considered that the pro- 
portion of the population of the United 
States engaged in the cultivation of the 
soil is less than in Europe, it will be 
seen that a divorce from traditionary 
methods and a free use of improved 
machinery are doing much for agricul- 
ture. The proportion engaged in agri- 
culture is constantly decreasing in this 
country, yet improved machinery has 
increased constantly since 1 840 the grain 
grown per capita of total population. 

Agriculture is known as the " con- 
servative " industry. It is all a mistake ; 
the world cannot advance faster than 
its agriculture. The accumulated facts 
of the past have been grouped, and from 
them has been evolved a more compre- 
hensive system of farming than has 
ever prevailed, involving a more ra- 
tional system of crop rotations and stock 
management. 



CHAPTER XXXVl. 



Review of the World's Scientific Progress in the 
Nineteenth Century. 



fHE wise and the foolish, the 
learned and the unlearned, the 
poet and the pressman, the rich 
and the poor, alike swell the chorus of 
admiration for the marvellous inven- 
tions and discoveries of our own age, 
and especially for those innumerable 
applications of science which now form 
part of our daily life, and which re- 
mind us every hour of our immense 
superiority over our comparatively ig- 
norant forefathers. 

But though in this respect (and in 
many others) we undoubtedly think 
very well of ourselves, yet our self-ad- 
miration does not rest upon an adequate 
appreciation of the facts. We must 
understand the altogether exceptional 
character of our advance in science and 
the arts during the nineteenth century. 
In order to estimate its full importance 
and grandeur — more especially as re- 
gards man's increased power of nature, 
and the application of that power to 
the needs of his life to-day, with un- 
limited possibilities in the future — we 
must compare it, not with any preced- 
ing century, nor even with the last mil- 
lenium, but with the whole historical 
period — perhaps with the whole period 
that has elapsed since the stone age. 

Having thus Indicated our standpoint 
let us proceed to sketch in outline those 
great advances in science, the arts and 
literature, which are the glory of the 
century. In the course of our survey 
we shall find that the more important 



of these are not mere improvements 
upon, or developments of anything that 
had been done before, but that they are 
entirely new departures, arising out of 
our increasing knowledge. 

Taking first those inventions and 
practical applications of science which 
are perfectly new departures, and which 
have also so rapidly developed as to 
have profoundly afiected many of our 
habits, and even our thoughts and our 
language, some of which have been 
fully described in preceding pages, we 
find them to be thirteen in number. 

1. Railways, which have revolution- 
ized land travel and the distribution of 
commodities. 

2. Steam navigation, which has done 
the same thing for ocean travel, and 
has besides led to the entire reconstruc- 
tion of the navies of the world. 

3. Electric telegraphs, which have 
produced an even greater revolution in 
the communication of thousfht. 

4. The telephone, which transmits, 
or rather reproduces, the voice of the 
speaker at a distance. 

5. Friction matches, which have rev- 
olutionized the modes of obtaining fire. 

6. Gas lighting, which enormously 
improved outdoor and other illumina- 
tions. 

7. Electric lighting, another advance, 
which bids fair to supercede gas. 

8. Photography, an art which is to 
the external forms of nature what print- 
ing is to thought 

533 



534 



REVIEW OF THE WORLD'S PROGRESS. 



9. The phonograph, which preserves 
and reproduces sounds as photography 
preserves and reproduces forms. 

10. The Roentgen rays, which ren- 
der many opaque objects transparent, 
and open up a new world to photography. 

11. Spectrum analysis, which so 
greatly extends our knowledge of the 
universe that by its assistance we are 
able to ascertain the relative heat and 
chemical constitution of the stars, and 
ascertain the existence, and measure 
the rate of motion, of stellar bodies 
which are entirely invisible. 

12. The use of anaesthetics, render- 
ing the most severe surgical operations 
painless. 

13. The use of antiseptics in surgical 
operations, which has still further ex- 
tended the means of saving life. 

None to Compare. 

Now, if we ask what inventions com- 
parable with these were made during 
the previous (eighteenth) century, it 
seems at fxrst doubtful whether there 
were any. But we may perhaps admit 
the development of the steam engine 
from the rude but still useful machine 
of Newcomen to the powerful and 
economical engines of Boulton and 
Watt. 

The principle, however, was known 
long before, and had been practically 
applied in the previous century by the 
Marquis of Worcester and by Savery ; 
and the improvements made by Watt, 
though very important, had a very limi- 
ted result. The engines made were al- 
most wholly used in pumping water 
out of deep mines, and the bulk of the 
population knew no more of them, nor 
derived any more direct benefit from 
'Jh^m. than if they had not existed. 



In the seventeenth century, the one 
great and fair-reaching invention was 
that of the telescope, which, in its im- 
mediate results of extending our know- 
ledge of the universe and giving possi- 
bilities oi future knowledge not yet 
exhausted, may rank with spectrum 
analysis in our own era. The barome- 
ter and thermometer are minor dis- 
coveries . 

In the sixteenth century we have no 
invention of the first rank, but in the 
fifteenth we have printing. 

Mariner's Compass. 

The mariner's compass was invented 
early in the fourteenth century, and 
was of great importance in rendering 
ocean navigation possible and thus fa- 
cilitating the discovery of America. 

Then, backward to the dawn of his- 
tory, or rather to prehistoric times, we 
have the two great engines of know- 
ledge and discovery — the Indian or 
Arabic numerals leading to arithmetic 
and algebra, and, more remote still, 
the invention of alphabetical writing. 

Summing these up, we find only five 
inventions of the first rank in all pre- 
ceding times — the telescope, the print- 
ing press, the mariner's compass, Ara- 
bic numerals, and alphabetical writing, 
to which we may add the steam engine 
and the barometer, making seven in 
all, as against thirteen in our single ' 
century. 

Coming now to the theoretical dis- 
coveries of our time, which have ex- 
tended our knowledge or widened our 
conceptions of the universe, we find 
them to be about equal in number, as 
follows: 

I . The determination of the mechani- 
1 cal equivalent of heat, leading to the 



i<.IiVIEW OF THE WORLD'S PROGRESS. 



535 



great principle of the conservation of 
energy. 

2. The molecular theory of gases. 

3. The mode of direct measurements 
of the velocity of light, and the expe- 
rimental proof of the earth's rotation. 
These are put together because hardly 
sufficient alone. 

4. The discovery of the function of 
dust in nature. 

5. The theory of definite and multi- 
ple proportions in chemistry. 

6. The nature of meteors and comets, 
leading to the meteoric theory of the 
universe. 

7. The proof of the glacial epoch, its 
vast extent, and its effect upon the 
earth's surface. 

8. The proof of the antiquity of man, 

9. The establishment of the theory 
of organic evolution. 

10. The cell theory and the recapitu- 
lation theory in embryology. 

1 1. The germ theory of the zymotic 
diseases. 

1 2. The discovery of the nature and 
function of the white blood-corpuscles. 

Turning to the past, in the eighteenth 
century we may perhaps claim two 
group* of discoveries : 



1. The foundation of modern chem- 
istry by Black, Cavendish, Priestly and 
Lavoisier; and 

2. The foundation of electrical science 
by Franklin, Galvani and Volta. 

The seventeenth century is richer in 
epoch-making discoveries, since we 
have: 

3. The theory of gravitation estab- 
lished. 

4. The discovery of Kepler's laws. 

5. The invention of fluxions and the 
differential calculus. 

6. Harvey's proof of the circulation 
of the blood. 

7. Roemer's proof of finite velocity of 
light by Jupiter's satellites. 

Then, going backward, we can find 
nothing of the first rank except Euclid's 
wonderful system of geometry, derived 
from earlier Greek and Egyptian sources 
and perhaps the most remarkable men- 
tal product of the earliest civilizations ; 
to which we may add the introduction 
of Arabic numerals and the use of the 
alphabet. Thus in all past history we 
find only eight theories or principles 
antecedent to the nineteenth century as 
compared with twelve during that won- 
derful century alone. 



ASTRONOMY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Astronomy in the nineteenth century 
not only successfully cultivated, but 
greatly enlarged, every field of investi- 
gation which it inherited from the pre- 
ceding century. The instruments and 
methods of research were greatly im- 
proved and to them have been added 
celestial photography and spectroscopy, 
which are destined to prove no less 
potent and efficacious than the tele- 
scope. 

Photography has shown itself to be a 



valuable adjunct to the telescope, and 
the application of the spectroscope has 
not only ratified the ideas of preceding 
centuries as to the constitution of the 
universe, but has created an absolutely 
new branch of science — that is to say 
the chemistry of cekstial bodies. 

Let us begin with our globe ; its form 
and dimensions have been determined 
as much by means of vast geodetical 
measuies as v/ith the aid of pendulum 
experiments, and have been reduced 



536 



REVIEW OF THE WORLD'S PROGRESS. 



to an unhoped for degree of preci- 
sion. 

It has been proven that the axis of 
rotation of the earth is liable to small 
periodical movements in reference to 
the mass of the earth itself ; in other 
words, that the positions of the two 
terrestrial poles are not fixed, but shift 
from place to place at irregular inter- 




SOIvAR SYSTEM. 

vals within an area of from fifteen to 
twenty meters in diameter. 

The complete study of these move- 
ments and the determination of the 
causes upon which they depend are as 
yet in a state of rough draft, and the 
ultimate solution of the problem is 
reserved for the astronomers of the com- 
ing century. 

The movement of the moon around 
the earth, which was considered by the 
astronomers of the preceding century as 
one of the most difiicult problems to be 
investigated, still preserved this pre- 



eminence in the nineteenth century. 
Astronomers and mathematicians of 
great renown devoted to this problem 
the best part of their lives. 

And although, thanks to their gigan- 
tic efforts, the tables which are used in 
the calculation of the movements of the 
moon have reached a high degree of 
precision, nevertheless we have not 
made such progress as 
might have been expected. 
On the other hand our to- 
pographical knowledge of 
the lunar surface has been 
greatly extended, inasmuch 
as of all the planets the 
moon is that to which pho- 
tography may be applied 
with the best results. 

Regarding the physical 
constitution of the sun very 
little was known at the end 
of the eighteenth century. 
The scientists of that time 
had but superficial know- 
ledge regarding the sun 
spots and their periods of 
rotation. A rational study 
of the solar surface and of 
its atmosphere did not be- 
gin until the year 1842, with the dis- 
covery of the protuberances and of the 
solar corona. 

These studies were at first limited to 
the short instant of total eclipses, but 
the continued application of photo- 
graphy and spectroscopy very soon 
off^ered the means of uninterrupted in- 
vestigations of the sun's surface. It 
was found that the sun spots have not 
the same period of rotation in the differ- 
ent distances from the solar equator ; 
that their frequency and distribution are 
not stable, but follow a period of eleven 



REVIEW OF THE WORLD'S" PROGRESS. 



537 



and one half years. It lias also been 
ascertained that these periods correspond 
to equal intervals in the magnetic phe- 
nomena of the earth with variations 
entirely parallel. 

Many attempts have been made by 
various methods to determine accurately 




THE SUN ECWPSED. 

the average distance of the earth from 
the sun ; a distance which constitutes 
the fundamental unit of measure of the 
solar system and generally of all astro- 
nomical distances. The numerous and 
expensive expeditions into different re- 
gions of the world for the observation 
of the transit of Venus in the years 1874 
and 1882 were not so successful as we 
had the right to hope. It is neverthe- 
less certain that even on this subject 
progress has been made by the applica- 
tion of other methods, and especially by 
means of the parallax of some of the 
smaller planets. To the twentieth cen- 
tury will be reserved the attaining of a 
greater degree of precision, and this is 
!nade possible by the discovery of the 
Vnall planet Eros, which is nearer to 
^^e earth than any other planet known. 



The theories of planetary movements, 
according to the principles of universal 
gravitation, have made great progress, 
and the tables of these movements have 
been brought to a very high degree of 
precision. The theory of gravitation 
has been sufficient to account for aP 




REMARKABI^E CORONA. 

observed movements, with the excep- 
tion of those of Mercury, which still 
shows some variations, the cause of 
which is not known. A great and cele- 
brated triumph of that theory was the 
discovery of the planet Neptune, by the 
use of the telescope upon indications 
given by the perturbations exercised by 
this planet upon Uranus. 

Another important addition to the 
astronomical knowledge of the nine- 
teenth century has been the discovery 
of the so-called asteroids which circu- 
late between the orbits of Mars and 
Jupiter. The number of these now 
known is a little less than five hundred^ 
and its is probable that a great many 
more will be discovered in the twentieth 
century. 



PART VI. 

RELIGION, LITERATURE AND ART 

IN THE 

NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Christianity in the Last Hundred Years. 




E have already seen the won- 
derful progress that has been 
made during the century in 
every department of human effort re- 
lating to industrial science, the growth 
of nations, the struggle for equal rights, 
the victory of man over the forces of 
nature, and the application of those 
forces to our daily necessities and com- 
forts. The record is a marvellous one 
and we cannot help asking whether 
it is likely to be repeated in the cen- 
tury to come. 

We are now to take a step forward, 
and notice that equal advancement has 
been made in the progress of Christi- 
anity and its beneficent influences and 
institutions. A spirit of skepticism 
overspread our land during the first two 
decades of the nineteenth century. It 
was largely the result of the French 
Revolution and the writings of such 
men as Voltaire and Thomas Paine. 
The young men of our educational in- 
stitutions were more than free in their 
religious opinions, and there was great 
need of a revival of the faith once deliv- 
ered to the saints. 

Looking back, now, upon the last 
hundred years, we discover a wonderful 
change. Great champions of the Chris - 
538 



tian faith arose like giants from their 
slumbers, attacked the forces of darkness 
and infidelity, and emerged from the 
storm of battle carrying with them their 
banners of triumph. These honored 
names are too many to even be men- 
tioned here, but our country and the 
world at large owes them a debt of un- 
bounded gratitude. 

Great Missionary ZeaL 
The remarkable progress of Christi- 
anity may be seen, first, in those mis- 
sions to heathen communities and na- 
tions by which the evangelical churches 
have been especially distinguished. The 
Moravians, or Church of the Brethren, 
although only a small body of Protest- 
ants, is celebrated for its missionary 
spirit. In fact, it is hardly too much to 
say that the church exists solely to ex- 
hibit this spirit. 

Their first mission — that to the West 
Indian slaves — was started in 1732, and 
soon after this stations were established 
in Greenland, Lapland, North and South 
America, South Africa and other coun- 
tries, and enthusiastic Brethren tried 
even to convert the Gypsies. The larger 
part of the missionary work, however, 
done by the Moravians comes within 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE IvAST HUNDRED YEARS. 



539 



the limits of the last century. This 
work has been such as to receive the 
highest commendatiou on account of 
the great zeal displayed, the self-sacri- 
fice involved, and the results that have 
been obtained. As an example of the 
kind of work the Moravians are ready 
to undertake, it may be stated that they 
have had an important leper mission in 
Jerusalem since 1867. No work more 
dangerous or self-denying than this 
could be imagined. 

During the century the Church of 
England, the English Nonconformists 
and the Scotch churches of every name 
have had their mission stations in many 
parts of the globe, and these have 
evoked the greatest religious enthu- 
siasm, men and money having been 
furnished lavishly to advance the cause 
which they represent. The London 
Society was founded in 1795, the Bap- 
tist in 1792, and the Wesleyan in 18 17. 
Thus it will be seen that the work of 
the last three organizations has nearly 
all been done in the nineteenth century. 

Famous American Board. 

The Americans have not been behind 
in the endeavor to extend the influence 
of Christianity. The American Board 
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 
was founded in 18 10 by three young 
men who were moved to do something 
for the enlightenment and conversion 
of the heathen. The amazing influence 
and results attending the labors of this 
institution are a theme for wonder. 
In the ninety years of its existence it 
has received in voluntary offerings more 
than $31,000,000. The twelve colleges 
of the Board have an average attendance 
of more than 2500 pupils. 

The number of Protestant missionary 



organizations laboring within the Chi- 
nese Empire in 1900 was upwards of 50, 
with about 2500 missionaries, 5,000 na- 
tive assistants and more than 80,000 
communicants. There were between 30 
and 40 Protestant organizations engaged 
in missionary work in Japan, with a 
total membership of upwards of 40,000." 

What Figures Show. 

The statistical reports of the United 
States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, 
Continental Europe (except Germany), 
Asia, Australia and Africa in totals 
were : Number of societies engaged in 
work, 242; stations, nearly 5,000; out 
stations, about 15,000; missionaries, 
11,900; native laborers, 68,000; com- 
municants, 1,550,000; under instruc- 
tion, 811,000; income in dollars, |i6,- 
244,370. 

The Scottish missions differ from the 
others in this, that they are conducted 
by the churches as such, without the 
intervention of societies. The Estab- 
lished, the Free, and the United Presby- 
terian Churches, have extensive mis- 
sions in India, Africa, China, the South 
Seas and Japan. The English Presby- 
terian Church has an extensive and suc- 
cessful mission in China. The Presby- 
terian bodies cherish the memories of 
Duff", Wilson and Anderson in India, 
and of William Burns and Carstairs 
Douglas in China, who are among the 
renowned missionaries of the century. 
The Missionary Society of the Church 
of England has an income more than^ 
twice that of any other English so- 
ciety. 

These facts are sufficient to prove 
that a large part of religious life at the 
present time expends itself in mission- 
arv work. The significant events of the 



540 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS 



^ge are not the building of battleships, 
the conflicts of navies or the march of 
armies, but the quiet, zealous, self- 
denying and persevering efibrts of those 
devoted men and women who, in dark 
and desolate places, are spreading the 
light of Christianity, and laying the 
foundations of civilization and of future 
republics and empires. 

Medical Missions. 

Certain phases of this great work are 
worthy of consideration, and some of 
these have become prominent within 
the brief space of a few years. The 
mode of carrying on missionary opera- 
tions by the various bodies already re- 
ferred to is essentially one, though, of 
course, modified by circumstances. For 
example, medical missions have been 
found to be invaluable, and in some in- 
stances an indispensable adjunct to the 
other agencies. 

The missions of the Scottish churches 
have employed education as an evange- 
listic power to a greater extent than the 
other bodies. Such institutions as the 
Christian College at Madras, the mission 
station at Blantyre, and the Free Church 
Institution at Lovedale in South Africa, 
are producing a great effect on the 
minds of the people. 

After all, the most that can be said is 
that a beginning in Christian missions 
has been made, the ground has been 
somewhat cleared, and the way pre- 
pared. The actual population of the 
world may be taken in round numbers 
as 1,500,000,000, of whom only about 
400,000,000 are professedly Christians. 
Thus, not so much as a third part of 
the world is evangelized. The hopeful 
aspect is that the nations of the East 
are waking up, and before long great 



changes must come in China, Japan, 
India and other parts of the Orient. 

While so much can be said for the 
burning zeal of the Protestant churches 
in extending the domain of Christianity, 
it must be remembered that the great 
Roman Catholic Church has not been 
one whit behind i n its irrepressible efforts 
to lengthen its cords and strengthen its 
stakes. Its missionaries, baptized with 
holy ardor, have really been the pio- 
neers of civilization, and have been 
found in the distant islands of the sea, 
in the wilds of Africa and among the 
frozen snows of the Polar regions. 

Notable Record. 

The missionary zeal of the Papal 
Church can be traced far back of the 
nineteenth century, but in the last 
hundred years it has flamed out with a 
brilliancy seldom known before, and 
has partaken of the active spirit of the 
age. Among the Indians of the wilder* 
ness, on. the banks of streams never yet 
stirred by navigation, in the snows of 
the far North and along the outskirts of 
new settlements, the heroic mission- 
aries of the Papal Church have toiled, 
suffered, and, like their Protestant breth- 
ren, have died when necessary for the 
great cause to which their lives were 
devoted. 

The wonderful advance of Christian- 
ity during the century is also seen in 
the rise and growth of Sunday-schools 
and organizations for calling out the 
energies and zeal of young people. Up 
to 1780 Sunday-schools were unknown. 
At the end of the nineteenth century it 
would seem impossible for any church 
to exist without a Sunday-school for 
the religious education of the young, 
lyook out upon some anniversary day. 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. 



541 



such as ha?, been celebrated in Brooklyn 
for many years, and see the tens of 
thousands of children all marching un- 
der one gospel banner and all members 
of one great army. 

One hundred years ago no such sight 
could have been witnessed, and it is 
hardly too much to say that the wildest 
dreamer would never have predicted it. 
The century has taught the profound 
lesson that the young are the hope of 
the church and the world. With all 
the advantages of secular education, 
they are unfitted for citizenship and the 
noblest callings of life without religious 
training. 

Army of Waifs. 

Consider also that great miracle of 
missionary work seen in all our large 
towns and cities from one end of the 
continent to the other. The ragged, 
the dirty, the maimed, the halt, the 
blind, the whole vast army of waifs 
that prowl in the city gutters, are gath- 
ered into mission schools, while their 
teachers come from wealthy avenues and 
mansions. In this way does the relig- 
ious life of our city churches exercise 
itself, and every town is covered with a 
network of religious organizations and 
is brought within the sphere of Chris- 
tian influence. 

In fact, it has come to be admitted 
that any city church with abundant 
wealth that is not thus reaching down 
into the slums in search of jewels that 
otherwise would be lost is not fulfilling 
its duty and is a fit subject for reproach. 
All this has come about during the last 
half of the century, and is a striking 
testimony to the leavening power of 
Christianity and its recent growth. 

Take into account also the church 



accommodations in comparison with 
the population of our country. Here 
we shall have to refer to dijGferent 
denominations. Reliable authorities es- 
timate that the five largest denomina- 
tions comprise fully 60 per cent, of the 
entire number of communicants ; the 
ten largest would comprise 75 per 
cent. In the matter of communicants 
the Catholic church is first of the de- 
nominations, with 7,510,000, but vastly 
inferior in number to the whole body 
of Protestants. The second denomi- 
nation is the Methodist, comprising 
all bodies of that name, with 5,405,- 
076. The Baptist ranks third, with 
3,7175373- 'The Presbyterian is fourth, 
with 1,278,332; the Lutheran fifth, with 
1)233,072. These are the five largest 
denominations, embracing communi- 
cants or church members only. 

Church Statistics. 

But every denomination has its con- 
stituency, so to speak, its adherents 
who form a population by themselves. 
It is customary to allow two and one- 
half adherents for each communicant or 
church member. This would make the 
Methodist population 18,918,446; the 
Baptist, 12,990,805; the Presbyterian, 
5,525,162; the Uitheran, 4,358,752. 
Thus in these five denominations 50,- 
000,000 people are included, with a 
Catholic population of 7,5 10,000. 

These figures are interesting as show* 
ing the remarkable advance that the 
Christian religion has made up to the 
present time and the amazing power it 
wields. Only a certain proportion of 
church communicants approach the 
Christian ideal ; many carry the name 
yet do not seem to be in the possession 
of that for which the name stands, yet 



542 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS. 



throughout Christendom greater ad- 
vance has been made in the cause of 
religion during tlie century than during 
any previous hundred years since the 
advent of Christ. 

It will doubtless be interesting to the 
reader to pursue the matter of religious 
statistics a little farther, as showing the 
present strength of the churches of 
America. It would add to the interest 
if we had statistics going back from 
year to year to the beginning of the 
century, but no carefully compiled sta- 
tistics were furnished until the census 
of 1890. Subsequent to that time we 
have to rely for facts and figures upon 
religious journals. 

We may conclude that the following 
summary is very nearly, if not quite, 
correct: Churches in the United States, 
189,488; ordained ministers, 114,823; 
members or communicants, 15,217,948; 
religious organizations of various de- 
scriptions, 158,695. The seating capa- 
city of churches may be put down as 
43,000,000, while in the 23,000 places 
where organizations which own no edi- 
fices hold their services accommodations 
could be found for 2,250,000 more. 

Church Property. 
The value of church property reaches 
the enormous sum of $670,000,000. This 
is a vast amount of money and is rapidly 
increasing. Wealthy congregations take 
a pardonable pride in erecting splendid 
edifices equipped with all the comforts 
and appliances necessary for Christian 
worship. In a sense this is a grand 
exhibition of religious devotion. It is 
estimated that at least $10,000,000 are 
raised yearly by Protestant churches for 
missionary work, while at the same 
time the Catholic church carries on its 



various enterprises at large expense and 
with untiring zeal. 

Ivook next at the great humanitarian 
movements by which the closing cen- 
tury has been distinguished, all of 
which are the outgrowth of Christianity 
and the teachings which date back 1900 
years. What victories have been gained 
in the bloody, yet heroic, struggle for 
equal rights among men. How the 
shackles have been stricken off from the 
oppressed and the great principle of 
human, brotherhood has been taught, 
and has been made to take the place of 
the old barbaric idea that might makes 
right and the strongest man is the best 
man. 

Humanity a Brotherhood. 

Here is a field for human contempla- 
tion that can arouse all the impulses of 
the human heart and mind. This great 
distinctive truth of Christianity, that 
humanity is one vast brotherhood, has 
gained ground at a surprising rate dur- 
ing the last hundred years. To be sure, 
there are still wars and rumors of war, 
bloody conflicts and the slaughter of 
God's image made in flesh, but the real 
question to be considered is, what does 
the sense of humanity say to all this ? 
There is a deep and horrible aversion to 
all war which has grown to such an 
extent as to make itself felt in palaces 
and halls of legislation. 

This cannot be doubted when we 
consider the extent to which arbitration 
is recommended by the foremost minds 
of our generation for the settlement of 
disputes between nations. Not the 
least of the glories of the nineteenth 
century may be found in those triumphs 
of the principle of arbitration by which, 
without the sword, and in the spirit of 



CHRISTIANITY IN THE tAST HUNDRED YEARS. 



^43 



brotherhood, vast issues have been de- 
cided, which otherwise must have been 
fought out on battlefields soaked with 
human blood. 

It is of great interest to note in this 
connection the now famous peace pro- 
position of the Emperor of Russia made 
in 1899. "The civilized nations were 
surprised at the action taken by the 
Emjieror, considering that Russia has 
always been an aggressive, warlike, and 
as some would say, greedy power. The 
object aimed at by this autocratic ruler 
was the bringing of war to an end in the 
whole earth and inaugurating a reign 
of peace. That a government so des- 
potic and unprogressive as that of Rus- 
sia should announce and advocate the 
foremost idea of the age was considered 
remarkable. 

The Emperor's Call. 

In accordance with the wishes of 
Emperor Nicholas II. a peace confer- 
ence was convened at the Hague in the 
spring of 1899. The call for this con- 
ference was based on a proposition 
handed to the representatives of foreign 
governments at St. Petersburg and was 
in part as follows : 

" The maintenance of general peace 
and the possible reduction of the exces- 
sive armaments which weigh upon all 
nations present themselves in existing 
conditions to the whole world as an 
ideal toward which the endeavors of all 
governments should be directed. The 
humanitarian and magnanimous ideas 
of His Majesty the Emperor have been 
won over to this view in the conviction 
that this lofty aim is in conformity with 
most essential interests and legitimate 
views of all the powers ; and the Imper- 
ial Government thinks the present mo- 



ment would be favorable to seeking the 
means." 

After stating the case with remarka- 
ble force and describing the appalling 
conditions in which all civilized nations 
are placed by being compelled to main- 
tain large standing armies, and by the 
direful results of war when it comes, a 
proposition for a conference of all the 
great powers was made and the hope 
was expressed that it would result in 
securing the end in view. 

Peace Conference. 

The conference was held, and was an 
imposing body, made up of distin- 
guished representatives from the leading 
nations of the world. The spirit that 
pervaded its deliberations was admira- 
ble, but these did not produce the result 
that had been hoped for. The confer- 
ence did, however, adopt a scheme of 
international arbitration and recom- 
mended it to their respective govern- 
ments. In all this there is a promise for 
the future, and it is generally conceded 
that under the circumstances much was 
accomplished toward not only prevent- 
ing war but mitigating its horrors. 

The thoughtful reader, however, will 
conclude that it was a sad commentary 
upon this magnanimous effort in the 
interest of peace, that upon the very 
heels of it the war broke out between 
the British and the Boers, and the same 
old thunder of guns was heard that 
echoed over the plains of Europe in the 
early part of the century, and was heard 
again in the last half of it, during our 
Civil War and conflict with Spain. This 
much maybe set down as hopeful, that 
the great truths of the gospel under- 
lying human brotherhood will yet bring 
forth "peace on earth." 



CHAPTER XXXVIIL 



The Century's Progress in Education and Literature. 




S late as 1 840 woman in the Uni- 
ted States was without recogni- 
zed individuality in any de- 
partment of life. There was 
absolutely no provision for her edu- 
cation in anything beyond the rudi- 
mentary branches. She was kept closely 
at home, carding, spinning, weaving, 
making butter and cheese, knitting 
and sewing, working day and night, 
planning and economizing to educate 
the boys of the family. Such a thing as 
a career for a woman was undreamed of. 

In cases of extreme poverty the girls 
might go among the neighbors and 
earn a miserable pittance doing house- 
work or sewing. The boy, at twenty- 
one, was free to carry his labor where 
it would bring him financial reward. 
The girls of the family at twenty-one 
continued to work without wages as 
before. When they married their ser- 
vices were transferred to their husband, 
and woman was considered well re- 
warded by food, shelter and what 
clothes her husband chose to grant her. 
Any wages the wife might earn outside 
her home belonged by law to the hus- 
band, no matter what the necessity of 
mother and children. Woman lost at 
marriage not only the right to her ear- 
nings and property, but also the right 
to the custody of her person and her 
children. 

No occupations were open to women 

except cooking, sewing, teaching and 

factory work. Few women were sufH- 

ciently educated to teach. Those who 

544 



were qualified received from $4 to |8 a 
month and "boarded round," while 
men for the same service were giveu 
^30 a month and board. 

Every woman must marry, either 
with or without love, for the sake of 
support, or be doomed to a life of hu- 
miliating dependence, living, after the 
death of parents, in the home of mar- 
ried brother or sister, the drudge and 
burden-bearer of the family. Women 
might work like slaves for their rela- 
tives, receiving only board and clothes, 
but the moment they stepped outside 
the home and became wage earners 
they lost caste. The woman who dared 
venture into the field of literature was 
equally under the ban. 

Strange Ideas of Woman. 

It was generally accepted that a 
woman who attempted any vocation 
outside of domestic service became at 
once and forever unfitted for the duties 
of wife and mother. The idea that 
woman owes service to man instead of 
to herself, and that it is her highest 
duty to aid his development rather 
than her own is the last to die. 

In that day not even woman herself 
had so much as a dream of entering the 
profession of law, medicine and theo- 
logy. When the genius of Harriet 
Hosmer impelled her to take up sculp- 
ture she traveled from one end of the 
country to the other begging for an 
opportunity to make the necessary study 
of anatomy. When Elizabeth Black- 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 



545 



well determined to consecrate her life 
to medicine, not one of the standard 
medical colleges would admit her 
as a student, and society ostracized 
her. 

The close of the nineteenth century 
finds every trade, vocation and profes- 
sion open to women, and every oppor- 
tunity at their command for preparing 
themselves to follow these occupations. 
The girls as well as the boys of the 
families now fit themselves for such 
careers as their tastes and abilities per- 
mit. A vast amount of the household 
drudgery, that once monopolized the 
whole time and strength of the mo- 
thers and daughters, has been turned 
over to machinery. 

A money value is placed upon the 
labor of women. The ban of social os- 
tracism has been largely removed from 
the woman wage earner. Woman is no 
longer compelled to marry for support. 
Out of 450 of the land's higher institu- 
tions of learning, less than a quarter re- 
fuse entrance to women. In the world 
of literature and art women divide 
honors with men, and the civil service 
rules have secured for them thousands 
of remunerative positions under the 
Government. 

What Will She Be? 
What the woman of the twentieth 
century will be we cannot say. One 
hundred years, with the greater equali- 
ty, the richer opportunities, certain to 
come, will make her a being as much 
nobler, higher and more gifted with 
every power for good as the woman of 
to-day is superior in these qualities to 
her sister of a century ago. The growth 
of woman means the growth of man : 
Lheir perfect equality in their respec- 
35 



tive spheres, the highest development 
of the race. 

The advance of woman in education 
and in the enlargement of her opportu- 
nities and influence is only similar to 
the advance that has been made during 
the century in everything pertaining to 
education and the enlightenment of 
the general public. It has been a crown- 
ing century in the diffusion of know- 
ledge, the higher forms of mental train- 
ing, and the methods employed for the 
successful teaching of the young. There 
are those now living who can see a 
marked contrast between the educa- 
tional advantages of the present day 
and th^se afforded in their own youth. 

A Flood of Books. 

Myriaus of books on every conceiva- 
ble subject and of every style and de- 
scription are placed upon the market, 
are even thrust into the very faces of 
the reading public, so that the question 
is not whether one can find the means 
for becoming well informed on any sub- 
ject, but whether time can be obtained 
for studying the works that are at hand. 
The vast business done by our largest 
publishing houses would seem almost 
miraculous to the ordinary reader if it 
could be examined in all its details. 

The great bulk of books in America 
is published by about one hundred firms 
in four chief cities. The output is 
about five thousand titles, in editions 
of from one hundred to one million 
copies. Very expensive books are lim- 
ited to editions of one hundred copies. 
These are works of fiction, of which 
from twenty to one hundred thousand 
copies are sold in a year, and in occa- 
sional instances a much greater number. 
Editions of school books from fifty to five 



646 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 



hundred thousand copies are common 
enough. The Appletons for many years 
sold over one million copies of Web- 
ster's "Speller" annually, and a Cin- 
cinnati firm sold every year over one 
million copies of a popular . series of 
readers. The American public pays 
yearly over ;^50, 000,000 for general liter- 
ature and school books. 

The century brought forth an enor- 
mous mass of literature. Novels form 
the bulk of it. The production of fic- 
tion has been phenomenal. It was ex- 
tremely easy to get a book printed and 
placed upon the market. Hence writ- 
ings of every kind and upon every sub- 
ject abounded. As the end of the cen- 
tury came in sight the demand for books 
was greater than ever and the flood of 
new ones was still engulfing the public. 

Short-Lived Works. 

Of course, the greater part of the nine- 
teenth century will be forgotten. Much 
of it will live. Much of it that we 
think M^ll die will be read a long time 
hence. Much of it that we think will 
survive the friction of changing tastes 
and ideas will sink out of sight within 
a short time. It is difficult to tell at 
short range just how long a book will 
live, just what there is in it which makes 
for permanence. 

The only method by which we can 
form any sort of judgment is to analyze 
the books which have stood time's test 
and see, if wre can, what their qualities 
are, and compare those qualities with 
the characteristics of present day litera- 
ture. It is much more difficult to do 
this, however, than it is to describe the 
process, so people will have to wait and 
see in most cases. 

The century has undoubtedly made 



certain contributions of a distinctly 
valuable character to the literature of 
the world. We have created a few 
forms, we have developed many. We 
have made some progress in thinking, 
but we have added few ideas which are 
fundamentally new. We have found 
some new materials and we have util- 
ized them. We have some geniuses, 
and, as is always the case, when genius 
appears, noteworthy results have fol- 
lowed. 

Admirable Histories. 

What may be considered the most 
striking and distinctive contribution of 
the nineteenth century to literature is 
in the writing of history. The advance 
has been notable. Before this century, 
and even during part of it, history writ- 
ing consisted in narrating the actions of 
comparatively few people. It told of 
wars, of politics, of the diplomatic 
movements of nations, but it did not 
tell of what the great body of the peo- 
ple were doing, of the underljang influ- 
ences affecting society. But we have 
changed all this. America has contri- 
buted most to this progress. 

Francis Parkman is probably the 
greatest historian of the century, and 
certainly John Fiske did splendid work. 
Professor Fiske wrote history upon 
scientific lines. He spent many years 
studying the evolution ideas of Darwin, 
and later the philosophy of Spencer. 
As a result he viewed history as an 
evolution — just what, in fact, it is. 
This marks an advance in historical 
literature. It brings us nearer the 
point we are so rapidly approaching, 
the realization of an historical ideal. 

The century has given us little new 
material in fiction. There has been 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 



547 



some spiendid novel writing. Many of 
our novelists have been men and women 
of real genius. But their characters 
have been stock characters. The Eng- 
lish society girl and the romantic hero 
have been the predominant types. We 
^cannot agree that there was a distinct- 
lively romantic movement at the begin- 
ning of the century and that it has been 
supplanted by realism, which again in 
its turn is giving away to the historical 
romance. 

The romantic movement was notably 
predominant in Germany and France in 
the eighteenth century. Rousseau and 
the Schlegel brothers were its apostles. 
The movement sought inspiration in 
mediaevalism, in the symbols of a Chris- 
tianity that ran to mysticism in the 
quaint, strictly pre-Raphael art which 
was supposed to be the result of a sim- 
ple faith. This was the same movement 
that has appeared in the so-called Aes- 
theticism of England in the nineteenth 
century. It appears periodically, just 
as a realistic movement does. There is 
nothing in Balzac more realistic than 
Scott's treatment of the common peo- 
ple and certainly Zola is at times as 
romantic as could be desired. 

Writers of Repute. 
What new material the century has 
given to fiction has been furnished by 
American writers. Joel Chandler Harris, 
George W. Cable, William Dean How- 
ells and others have taken fresh mater- 
ials and dealt with them with the 
genius of artists. Their work will live 
when much that is now popular of the 
writings of Englishmen will have been 
entirely forgotten. The writing itself 
of the Americans may not be so good, 
"but the treatment and the material are 



superior to anything new which Eng- 
land has given us. 

It is impossible to say who has been 
the greatest story writer of the century. 
There has been much fiction produced 
which will live because it is literature, 
not because its material is new or its 
treatment novel. This is the kind of 
work Hawthorne did, and for that 
reason he stands out as one of the great 
writers of the century. 

Great Authors. 

Many would say that Scott was the 
greatest writer of the century. Scott 
was a careless writer and the construc- 
tion of his novels was bad, but he did 
three notable things— he put into liter- 
ature the delightful folk-lore of his own 
Scottish country, he portrayed in a way 
pleasing to readers the chivalric hero 
of mediaeval times, and, what is always 
popular, he told a story. He was a 
born story teller. These characteristics 
made Scott read when he first pub- 
lished his novels, they make him read 
to-day. 

Thackeray was one of the first to de- 
pict real society life. His people live 
and move. You feel that you would 
like to know them. He was intensely 
real. He was a genuine humorist, and 
in many respects England's greatest 
story teller. 

Dickens was a humanitarian. He 
was cr.e of the first of reformers, one of 
the Strst to make of fiction a great re- 
forming- influence. But manv of his 
characters are artificial. They are stage 
people, clever, interesting and delight- 
ful. We would not do without them. 
We cry over them and we laugh at 
them. But they are acting, neverthe- 
less. They are not the real people 



548 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 



Thackeray makes his readers acquainted 
with. 

George Eliot developed the possibili- 
ties of the introspective novel. The 
influence of Lewes upon her must be 
noted, as it was probably upon his sug- 
gestion that in her later writings she 
carried the philosophical novel to such 
an unprecedented point. Kipling was 
the most notable novelist at the end of 
the century. He dealt with so much of 
our very modern life that we cannot 
judge what place either that life or the 
depiction of it will take in the estima- 
tion of those who are to come after us. 
He certainly is powerful and possesses 
a directness of expression that is won- 
derfully effective. But at times he 
lacks taste ; at times he is careless. 

Essay Writing. 

The century developed a complete 
and radical change in the essay. The 
essay of Bacon, latterly evplving into 
the essay of Swift, and then of Lamb, 
we have no more. The material which 
in former periods we would put into 
essays now goes into novels or histories. 
Stevenson and the othei modeni essay- 
ists write an entirely new form of litera- 
ture. There are a few got^d living 
essayists and several of them are Ameri- 
cans. 

The century has developed very few 
great American novels. The reason is 
that before the Civil War this country 
was largely under the literary domi- 
nation of English writers of the eigh- 
teenth century. In the South very few 
writers of this century were read. It is 
hard to overcome the effects of a matter 
of this kind. Whether the great Ameri- 
can novel will appear in the next century, 
would be very hard to say. A genius 



is possible at any time, however, and 
when the proper sort of a genius appears 
we will have our great national wr>^k of 
fiction. 

Much that is Good 

It is too early to say how o^r century 
will rank with the other centuries in 
the world of letters. We have not made 
so very much real progress. Whenever 
we -read Plato it seems as if it might 
have been written in our own time. 
It will be ^ l.i>ng time before we get be- 
yond Job and Homer. The standards 
of literatuie "^re fixed and have been 
fixed for ages, just as have those of 
painting and sculpture. We have given 
the world a great deal that is good, but 
there is an enormous amount of trash 
for which we will have to be blamed. 

The trend of the end of the century 
is to put literature upon a commercial 
basis. Publishers order books of cer- 
tain lengths, to be produced within a 
certain time. Literature cannot be pro- 
duced in this manner. Genius works 
in its own way and not according to the 
orders of publishers. Whether this so- 
much-a-line method will produce good 
results is extremely doubtful. The in- 
crease of education will enormously in- 
crease the demand for reading. Whether 
this demand will in the main be largely 
supplied by the old writers cr whether 
the new authors will rise to it is a ques- 
tion for the future to settle. 

It is evident that from year to year 
American authors are forcing them- 
selves to the front, and by their admira- 
ble productions are taking higher rank 
in the world of letters. The reading 
public judges for itself, and it no longer 
requires the stamp of foreign approval 
before forming an opinion of any work. 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 



549 



IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL EVENTS OF THE 
NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



1803 — Land grant by the United States 
Government for Ohio public 
schools. 

1805 — New York the second State in 
the Union to establish common 
school fund. 

1806 — First evening school, Bristol, 
England. 

1809— Ohio State University founded. 

1809— University of Berlin founded, 
with freedom of teaching. 

1814 — Norwegian Storthing first inter- 
ests itself in education. 

1815 — Compulsory education in Prus- 
sia. 

1817 — First institution for deaf-mute 
instruction in the United 
States, at Hartford, Conn. 

1820 — School books furnished free in 
Philadelphia schools. 

1824 — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 
in Troy, first in United States. 

1825 — Braille system of printing for the 
blind. 

1826— Frobel's "Education of Man" 
appeared. 

1833 — Universal education law, France. 

1833— First aid to schools by British 
Parliament. 

1834 — Common schools established in 
Pennsylvania. 

1835 — Sewing taught in Boston schools. 

1836— Mount Holyoke Female Semi- 
nary founded. 

1837 — Horace Mann becomes secretary 
of Massachusetts Board of Ed- 
ucation. 

1837— First School of Design in Eng- 
land. 

1838— First Normal School in United 
States, Lexington, Mass. 



1840 — First kindergarten, near Rudol' 
stadt. 

1840 — Textbook reforms in the United 
States. 

1842 — Universal free education in Swe- 
den. 

1848 — Entire Bible printed for the blind, 

1849 — First woman to receive medical 
degree. 

1853 — Antioch college ; co-education. 

1857 — National Teachers' Association 
organized ; afterwards became 
National Educational Associa- 
tion. 

1861 — Vassar College founded. 

1863 — First cooking school founded in 
London. 

1867 — Department of Education estab- 
lished in United States. 

1868 — First laboratory instruction in 
mechanics. Imperial Technical 
School, Russia. 

1870 — Union College of Law, first wo- 
man graduate. 

1870 — Elementary educational act, Eng- 
land. 

1872 — University extension, Cambridge, 
England. 

1873 — Kindergartens in United States, 
at St. Louis. 

1874 — First Chautauqua Assembly. 

1876 — Manual training schools estab- 
lished, Sweden. 

1878 — University of London admits 
women. 

1879 — Manual training in St. Louis 
schools. 

1880 — Cooking taught in Boston public 
schools. 

1881 — First trades schools in United 
States, at New York. 



550 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 



1882 — Compulsory education in France. 

1893 — Summer meeting for University 

Extension held in Philadelphia. 

UNIVERSITY 

The purpose of the University Exten- 
sion movement, which was originated 
by the University of Cambridge, in 
England, and subsequently spread to 
the United States, is to provide the 
means of higher education for persons 
of all classes and of both sexes engaged 
in the regular occupations of life. It is 
intended for all who are willing to give 
some of their time to study and in- 
struction under the guidance of men 
who liave had university training. It 
offers : 

Advantages Offered. 

First — Education by means of sys- 
tematic courses of lectures and classes 
in the subjects usually taught at high 
schools and universities. 

Second — Illustrated lectures and clas- 
ses in literature, art, and science, with 
the purpose of teaching the appreciation 
of the beautiful, and rendering life more 
interesting and enjoyable. 

Third — L/Cctures and --jasses in his- 
tory, civics, and economics, designed to 
aid the citizen in studying the problems 
of free government and modern life and 
to encourage a sense of responsibility, 
habits of sound thinking, and right 
conduct. 

The American Society for the Exten- 
sion of University Teaching was founded 
at Philadelphia in June, 1890. Its 
objects are : 

First — To organize groups of people 
into centres, and to bring together these 
centres and competent lecturers, chosen 
from the list of instructors, whose qual- 



1900 — Kindergarten schools in opera- 
tion throughout the United 
States. 

EXTENSION. 

ifications to teach have been passed 
upon by the Society. 

Second — To. cooperate as far as possi- 
ble with institutions of learning and 
other bodies with the purpose of bring- 
ing to the many the best thoughts of the 
few, to keep the University Extension 
idea before the country by the Society's 
agents and publications. 

In the first year of work twenty-three 
centres were organized, at which some 
three hundred lectures were given to 
an estimated attendance of ten or twelve 
thousand people. The second season 
witnessed a satisfactory increase in the 
number of centres, with a correspond- 
ing increase in the number of lectures 
and students. In the academic year 
1893-94 there were given under the 
auspices of the American Society one 
hundred and fourteen regular lecture 
courses, thirty-one class courses, and 
fifty Summer Meeting courses, or one 
hundred and ninety-five coiirses in all, 
averaging a little over six lectures 
each. 

Rapid Growth. 

In the year 1894-95 one hundred and 
twenty-six regular courses were given, 
nine class courses, and forty-one Sum- 
mer Meeting courses, or one hundred 
and seventy-six courses in all, aver- 
aging about six lectures each. Through 
the "circuit" or union of five or six 
towns which join to engage the same 
lecturer, towns distant from University 
centres have enjoyed the advantages of 
the system, and even villages of a few 



EDUCATION AND LITERATURE. 



551 



hundred inhabitants have been able to 
secure courses. 

In addition to tlie winter lectures at 
the centres, the Society has entered 
upon two other lines of educational ac- 
tivity. The first is the formation of 
classes of from twenty to seventy-five 
members, which, under the direction 
of its lecturers, engage in the study of 
history, literature, or civics, through 
consecutive periods from three to six 
months. The classes are intended to 
supplement the work of the " Local 
Centres" proper, and in places where 
conditions do not admit of the forma- 
tion of a centre, to supply, as far as 
possible, its place. The second is the 
Summer Meeting, which was started 
in Philadelphia in 1893, where courses 
were given during four weeks by some 
of the most eminent professors of Har- 
vard, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and the 
University of Pennsylvania. 

The Chautauqua System of Educa- 
tion. 

The Chautauqua plan of summer 
education was inaugurated in 1874. 
Its originators were Lewis Miller of 
Akron, Ohio, and Rev. Dr. John H. 
Vincent, a bishop of the Methodist 
Episcopal Cliurch. These gentlemen, 
in August, 1873, selected a site for a 
summer school on the northern shore 
of Chautauqua Lake. Here an attrac- 
tive city of more than five hundred ar- 
tistic and attractive cottages has been 
built. There is a well-equipped hotel 
and various buildings for public exer- 
cises, lectures and recitations. 

The first assembly began oh the first 
Tuesday in August, 1874, and lasted 
three weeks. Since then an assembly 
has been held every year. The Chau- 



tauqua Literary and scientific Circle 
was organized in 1878, and comprises 
a system of home reading circles, whose 
members pursue courses of reading laid 
out by the ofiicers in books and maga- 
zine articles approved by the board of 
counselors. 

The Circle aims to promote habits of 
reading and study in history, literature, 
science, and art, in connection with the 
routine of daily life. The course seeks 
to give "the college outlook" on the 
world and life. The essentials of the 
plan are : A definite course covering 
four years, each year's course complete 
in itself; specified volumes approved 
by the counselors, allotment of time by 
the week and month, a monthly maga- 
zine with additional readings and notes, 
a membership book with review out- 
lines, and other aid. Individual read- 
ers may have all the privileges, and 
local circles may be formed by three or 
four members. The time required is 
about one hour daily for nine months. 
Certificates are granted to all who com- 
plete the course. Seals are affixed to 
the certificates which are granted for 
collateral and advanced reading. 

Agricultural Education. 

As an evidence of the interest felt in 
agricultural education in the closing 
years of the century, let it be noted that 
the State of New York places in the 
hands of the Agricultural College of 
Cornell University $25,000 a year to be 
used in imparting agricultural instruc- 
tion to the people on their farms and to 
children in the schools. This has no- 
thing to do with the system of farmers' 
institutes, of which some hundreds are 
held each year in the State of New 
York and for which the State appro- 



552 



EDUCATION AND I.ITERATURE. 



priation is very much larger. The 
movement under the direction of Cor- 
nell University is designed to reach the 
farmers without compelling them to 
go anywhere or to take any trouble ex- 
cept to absorb what is to be put before 
them. 

There is no other such instance, we 
presume, anywhere in the world, of pa- 
ternal care of the State for the farmer. 
An interesting fact is that this move- 
ment did not originate with the State 
authorities or with the college. It was 
begun by the farmers themselves in one 
or two of the counties of the State, who 
caused the bill to be drafted and sent 
some of their own number to Albany to 
promote the passage of the law. For 
the first year or two the appropriation 
was ^15,000, to be expended in that 
portion of the State which had asked 
for it. I/ater it was increased and the 
work made to cover the entire State so 
far as the money would go. 

Instruction on the Farm. 
The work has been mainly experi- 
mental, as it could not be foretold what 
methods would produce the best results, 
or any results which would justify the 
cost. It is evident that instruction 
given in this way is very expensive. 
Mainly the instruction has been carried 
on upon two lines ; first, regular Vv'ork 
in the schools, carried on by traveling 
instructors in connection with the re- 
gular teachers, and secondly, by cul- 
ture experiments carried on by the 
farmers themselves, also with the assist- 
ance of traveling instructors. In the 
latter case it must not be supposed that 
young men are sent out to show farm- 
ers how to plant seeds, or hoe weeds, 
or distribute fertilizers. That would be 



silly, and great universities do not do 
silly tilings. 

The work of the instructors in such 
cases is to show farmers handy ways of 
so managing their experiments that de- 
finite and useful information may be 
obtained from them. To do this is a 
profession by itself, which is taught in 
universities, and which farmers, and 
other persons not specially trained, do 
not usually understand, or at all events 
seldom practice. An important part of 
the work of such instructors is to col- 
lect and preserve the results of these ex- 
periments, to be published for the bene- 
fit of those who have helped pay for the 
instruction, but have not directly re- 
ceived it. 

The university authorities consider 
these experiments made on actual farms 
by actual farmers, but under such su- 
pervision that they can be vouched for 
as accurate, as more valuable to the 
public than the same experiments made 
on the college grounds by the college 
staff. 

Agriculture in Schools. 

The work in the rural schools has for 
its object the imparting of elementary 
instruction to the pupils. If any of 
our readers are in doubt as to the possi- 
bility of really useful agricultural in- 
struction in the common schools, let 
him who is presumably a graduate of 
those schools attempt to answer offhand, 
as he reads this, the simple question: 
" How do plants grown ? ' ' The chances 
are ten to one that he cannot do it. We 
see the plants grow bigger day by day, 
with no V thought as to tbe sources of 
the additional particles of matter which 
have become incorporated in the planr, 
or the operation of the power which re- 



EDUCATION AND UTERATURE. 



555 



moves them from their original seats, 
lifts them into the air, and perhaps 
entirely changes their nature. We may 
easily find a redwood limb cut lOO feet 
from the ground, which five men can- 
not lift ; how did it get there ? It was 
no small power that raised it. It cer- 
tainly was not redwood when it went 
up ; how came it to become redwood ? 

The object of agricultural instruc- 
tion in common schools is to enable 
small children to answer such simple 
questions as these, which their fathers 
and mothers for the most part cannot 
answer. The reason why they should 
be able to answer them is that they 
may know exactly what helps and hin- 
ders growth, and how to cure disease 
growth. 

Thus we find immense progress in 
education. The school-house forms the 
great mile-post on the highway of pro- 
gress. It is everywhere in evidence. 
Free schools extend throughout the 
civilized world, and reach upward to a 



plane far beyond the highest level of 
public education a century ago, linking 
the common school with the colleg^e, 
and forming a direct stepping stone to 
university education, which has widened 
out with similar activity. In methods 
of education a marked advance has been 
made, while the text-books of to-day 
are almost infinitely superior to those 
of the earlier period. And education 
is turning its attention in a highly en- 
couraging degree towards practical sub- 
jects and away from that incubus of the 
dead languages which was so strenu- 
ously insisted upon in the past. Man 
is going back to nature in education, 
observation is supplementing book 
knowledge, and experiment taking the 
place of authority. In short, educa- 
tion, with its handmaids, the book and 
the newspaper, is making its way into 
the humblest homes, and man is every- 
where fitting himself for an intelligent 
discharge of his social, industrial and 
political duties. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



A Hundred Years of Art. 



fHERE are great centres of art in 
Europe, the chief of which, at 
the close of the century, is Paris, 
where the schools and facilities for in- 
struction attract students from all parts 
of the world. Each century adds a 
superb accumulation to the masterpieces 
of painting and sculpture which are the 
subjects of universal admiration, and 
the long roll of famous artists is con- 
stantly increasing. 

Our own country has been consider- 
ately excused hitherto for its deficien- 
cies in celebrated art productions on 
account of its comparative youth and 
the extraordinary opportunities for ac- 
quiring wealth, whereby the energies 
of intelligent people have been diverted 
from other pursuits. As the country 
grows older it is but reasonable to sup- 
pose that in art, as in other things, we 
s.hall make rapid advances and will not 
be a reproach to the older nations. 
Indeed within the last half of the past 
century we have shown our ability in 
this direction, and American artists 
have made enviable names for them- 
selves in European schools and exhibi- 
tions. 

Pictorial art has had a sudden and 
rapid development. All classes of 
books, magazines, and even daily news- 
papers, are now illustrated. It is found 
that the public taste demands the object 
lesson, and the periodical that can fur- 
nish it in the most artistic and attrac- 
tive style is the one that will outstrip 
all competitors. The discovery of a 
554 



process by which photographs can be 
reproduced in what are called "half- 
tones" has added greatly to the effec- 
tiveness of pictorial illustration. 

Old-Time Pictures. 

In the early part of the century all 
book illustrations were exceedingly 
crude, and in many instances little bet- 
ter than caricatures. One would think 
that a skillful Yankee with a block of 
pine wood and a jackknife could carve 
out as good pictures as were to be found 
in many of the school-books of the day. 
All along there has been a constant 
endeavor to perfect the art of illustra- 
tion, and the success attending this 
effort has been surprising. Rapid pro- 
gress has been made, until at the present 
time no one expects to take up even a 
penny newspaper without finding a pro 
fusion of pictures. 

And along with this growth of pic- 
torial art the processes by which it is 
produced have become so cheap as to 
bring the productions within reach of 
the universal public. The poorest cot- 
tage can have engravings and pictorial 
works such as were formerly within 
reach only of the wealthier classes. 

In reviewing art in the nineteenth 
century one is impressed with the steady 
transition toward the new world of artis- 
tic development. History shows us how 
different countries have their beginning, 
their growth, and their decline. This 
has been particularly characteristic in 
the past century, as in the early cen- 



A HUNDRED YEARS OF ART. 



555 



turies, when art in Egypt, Greece and 
Italy had its rise and fall. 

When we look back at iSoi and 1802 
we find the most important art figure 
that of David, who was the first person- 
ality whom we recall in modern French 
art. He was closely followed by Ingres, 
who was of more marked individuality. 
The influence of new and original 
thought was evinced in his work. Acad- 
emic, but less so than David, he had an 
infusion of original personality charac- 
teristic of much of the thought of his 
period. 

The turbulence of government condi- 
tions of France at the opening of the 
century encouraged an originality of 
thought that we do not find in the other 
countries. England was noted at the 
beginning of the century for its able 
portraiture, but a strong trace of the 
eighteenth century was obvious in 
French art. We therefore watch with 
deeper interest the gradual develop- 
ment in France. 

Rival Schools. 

Following closely upon Ingres comes 
the romantic school, a departure from 
English opposition to classicism and 
severity which had replaced the more 
emotional work at the end of the eigh- 
teenth century. 

We begin to feel another movement 
in French art as early as 1820, and a 
great ethical contest followed between 
classicism and romanticism. At this 
time the most distinguished English 
landscapist. Constable, drank the inde- 
pendent thought that was declaring it- 
self in France. 

We now enter upon the greatest period 
of French art, a period which will be re- 
called as the most brilliant of artistic 



productions during the century. The 
schools of fine art started by Napoleon, 
which were under governmental pro- 
tection, were gradually increasing and 
enlarging, and home patronage became 
declared. As in this country to-day, so 
in England and France at the begin- 
ning of the century most of the art 
patronage was spent on foreign artists. 

Home Talent. 

Both England and France were for 
many years in the beginning of the 
century lavish patrons of Italian art, 
oftener Italian imitation. But in the 
early 50' s we find the eyes of both the 
French and English people turned upon 
their home producers. English por- 
traiture is distinctly an exception to 
this, as royalty had placed its stamp of 
approval on portraiture from the six- 
teenth century. 

From 1850 on we watch in France, 
England and Germany the steady and 
wholesale development in art. The in- 
creased wealth and power of these 
countries led the cultured people to en- 
large their taste and add to their collec- 
tions, it having been proven that finan- 
cial investments in artistic productions, 
in painting and sculpture, were wise 
and remunerative. 

We also notice in the 50' s and 6o's 
the first evidence of native art produc- 
tion in the United States. 

The school of landscape and figure 
painters of considerable strength and 
originality had been gradually forming, 
and prior to and during the war the 
American artist was generously patron- 
ized. The works of many of these men 
are highly prized by their owners and 
are gradually becoming the property of 
local museums. 



556 



A HUNDRED YEARS OF ART. 



As we approach the end of the century 
we feel a distinct decadence in French 
art, with the exception of its sculpture, 
which still remains the most remark- 
able since the Renaissance. The break- 
ing into two factions of the Salon in 
1889, the immense and illy-considered 
patronage of the French painters led to 
over-confidence and a tendency to sen- 
sationalism which has not been for the 
best in their progress. 

Under the wise management of Sir 
Frederick Leighton, the Royal Academy 
in England has attained an importance 
which has made it one of the most 
powerful art bodies in the world. 

Epoch in Art. 

The establishment of the South Ken- 
sington Department of Science and Art 
marks an important epoch in the history 
of art instruction in England. It may 
be said to have arisen out of the report 
of a select committee of the House of 
Commons appointed in 1835 "to inquire 
into the best means of extending a 
knowledge of the arts and principles of 
design among the people (especially the 
manufacturing population) of the coun- 
try." On the recommendation of this 
committee a sum of ^7,500 was devoted 
to the establishment of a Normal School 
of Design, with a museum and lectures. 

The school was opened in 1837, and 
by 1851-52 the government grant for 
this school and its various branches 
throughout the country had attained the 
amount of ^75,000. In 1852, in accord- 
ance with a report of a select commit- 
tee, the scheme was reconstructed, and 
a "Department of Practical Art" cre- 
ated, with Sir Henry Cole as superin- 
tendent ; and a Science Department was 
added in 1853. 



It was under the management of the 
Board of Trade till 1856, when it passed 
under the control of the lyord President 
and the Vice-president of Council on 
Education. The South Kensington 
Museum, founded in 185 1, has played 
an important part in the art education 
of the country. 

Grenerous Bequest. 

In 1869 a great stimulus to art educa- 
tion was given by the foundation, 
through the bequest of $225,000 by 
Felix Slade, of the "Slade Art Profes- 
sorships" in the Universities of Oxford, 
Cambridge, and London. These chairs 
have been held by Mr. Ruskin and 
other persons of the highest eminence, 
and it is impossible to overestimate the 
good which has resulted from this effort 
to improve the taste and knowledge of 
the wealthier classes, in whose hands 
the patronage and direction of art in 
England mainly rests. 

In Scotland, a remarkable effort in 
the direction of art instruction was made 
by Robert Foulis, the well-known 
printer. In 1751 he visited the Conti- 
nent, engaged drawing- masters, and pur- 
chased pictures, casts, and engravings; 
and on his return to Glasgow in 1753 he 
started a school of art. The classes 
were continued till about 1776, and were 
far from a pecuniary success ; but they 
afforded training to such excellent art- 
ists as David Allan and James Tassie, 
and exercised a most important and 
beneficial influence upon Scottish art. 

In 1760 the Board of Manufactures in 
Scotland founded a school of art in 
Edinburgh which is still in active ope- 
ration, and which, under the name of 
' ' The Trustees' Academy, ' ' has afforded 
instruction to almost every Scottish 



A HUNDRED YEARS OF ART. 



55T 



painter of distinction for more than a 
century and a quarter. In 1858 this 
school was affiliated with the South 
Kensington Science and Art Depart- 
ment, and it serves not only for the 
instruction of art-craftsmen in design, 
but also as a school for painters and 
sculptors preparatory to the life-class of 
the Royal Scottish Academy. 

In 1880 art instruction was brought 
within the scope of the Scottish univer- 
sity curriculum by the establishment of 
the Watson-Gordon chair of Fine Art in 
the University of Edinburgh, in mem- 
ory of Sir John Watson-Gordon, through 
the bequest of a sum of about ^60,000 
by his brother and sister. 

In Ireland there are classes in connec- 
tion with the Royal Hibernian Academy 
for study from the antique and the life ; 
and the Dublin Metropolitan School of 
Art is under the South Kensington 
Department. 

Various continental schools, especially 
those of Munich and Antwerp, have 
attained celebrity ; but Paris is now the 
great centre of art instruction, in which 
many British and American students 



have been trained. Since the time of 
J. L,. David — who, when in exile, also 
influenced the school of Belgium — the 
French have been celebrated for their 
command over form ; and, in recent 
years, their power as colorists has greatly 
increased. The Parisian method of 
study is admirably adapted for giving 
its pupils a certain technical dex- 
terity. 

At the opening of the twentieth cen- 
tury we realize that the great promise 
of the future lies in America. Our art- 
ists to-day have been educated in all of 
the best known schools. They have 
taken honors in the capitals of all the 
countries of the world and have returned 
to their native land bearing the fruits 
of their labor, possessed of great natural 
ability and unexampled training ; that 
their productions should be essentially 
American is now being borne in upon 
them. And under the clear skies and 
with the wholesome surroundings and 
untrammeled means for future develop- 
ment, we are convinced that the great 
school of art in the twentieth century 
will be in America. 



PART VII. 

Famous Men and Women 

OF THE 

NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Celebrated Authors. 

/I2) REAT intellectual development has characterized the century. This is 
\mT' ^^^^ ^°^ ^'^^y ^^^ ^^^^ amazing achievements of mechanical invention 
and scientific discovery, but also in authorship, in great reforms, and in 
the brilliant triumphs of oratory and statesmanship. In every department of 
human activity there have been distinguished workers whose names are written 
hio^h on the scroll of fame. 

Our aim is to present a concise biography of the distinguished men and 
women of the century, describing, in condensed form, their renowned achieve- 
ments and narrating the im.portant events connected with their bright careers. 
For convenience in reference the names are arranged alphabetically. 



ALLEN, ELIZABETH ACKERS. 

This American poet was born at 
Strong, Maine, October 9, 1832. She 
became a contributor to various maga- 
zines and under the pseudonym of 
"Florence Percy" became widely 
known as an author. A volume of 
poems published in 1867 was favorably 
received. In i860 she became the wife 
of Paul Ackers, the sculptor, but sur- 
vived her husband, and some time after 
his death was married to Mr. B. M. Al- 
len of New York. 

Her painstaking work has been wide- 
ly appreciated, and while her produc- 
*?x)ns are not so abundant as those of many 
others, she has gained an enviable dis- 
tinction as a graceful writer, with fine 
poetic taste. Her beautiful poem en- 
658 



titled, "Rock me to Sleep, Mother," 
has become a household treasure. It 
exalts and ennobles motherhood, and its 
tender pathos is universally admitted. 
ALLSTON, WASHINGTON. 
This eminent American artist and 
man of letters was born at Waccamaw 
in South Carolina, November 5, 1779. 
Being of delicate health he was sent to 
Newport, R. I., where he remained in 
school ten years. Having graduated 
at Harvard College in 1796, he soon af- 
terward went abroad for the purpose of 
studying, and perfecting himself as a 
painter. xSoon his productions attracted 
wide attention. At length he returned 
to his native land and was eng iged on 
a large painting of " Belshazzar" J Feast' * 
when he died July 9, 1843, 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



559 



In addition to his genius as a painter, 
Allston possessed poetic talent of a high 
order. He was the author of "The 
Sylphs of the Season and Other Poems," 
published in 1813. Washington Irving 
says of him: " There was something to 
me inexpressibly engaging in the ap- 
pearance and manners of Allston. He 
was of a light, graceful form, with 
large blue eyes, and black silken hair 
waving and curling around the pale 
expressive countenance. Everything 
about him bespoke the man of intellect 
and refinement." 

ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN. 

A well-known magazine, the " Quar- 
terly Review," says concerning this au- 
thor, " For vividness and reality of de- 
tail, for breadth and boldness in the 
description of scenery, and for skill in 
conveying the impression made on a 
fine mind and earnest heart by all that 
is beautiful in nature and true in art, 
he stands without a rival among recent 
writers of romance." 

This is high commendation, yet it 
accords with the judgment of multi- 
tudes who have been charmed by his 
writings. Not only have his works 
been widely circulated in his own coun- 
try, but they have been translated into 
many foreign languages. The young, 
especially, have found instruction and 
entertainment in his delightful stories 
and fairy tales, published in several 
volumes, and which are characterized 
J by vivid imagination, quaint humor 
and not infrequently profound pathos. 

Andersen was born at Odense, in the 
island of Funen, April 2, 1805. His 
father's family was one of some note 
and at one time had been rich, but when 
Hans was born had fallen into poverty. 



He was fortunate enough in early life 
to meet several influential friends who 
enabled him to obtain an education at 
the expense of the State. At an early 
age he wrote several poems, among 
which "The Dying Child" was par- 
ticularly admired. From this time he 
entered upon an upward career and sur- 
prised and delighted the public by his 
tales and romances. Some of his vol- 
umes of travels have had a wide circu- 
lation. He died in August, 1875. On 
his seventieth birthday he was presented 
with a book containing one of his tales 
in fifteen languages. 

ARNOLD, MATTHEW. 

This English poet, a son of Dr. 
Thomas Arnold, of Rugby, was born 
near Staines in Middlesex, December 
24, 1822, and was educated at Rugby 
and Oxford. He gained prominence ds 
an educator and inspector of schools. 
His first volume of poems appeared in 
1848, and in 1857 he was elected pro- 
fessor of poetry at Oxford. " For com- 
bined culture and fine natural feeling 
in the matter of versification," says the 
Edinburgh Review, "Mr. Arnold has 
no living superior." His writings em- 
brace prose as well as poetry, and his 
views upon religious subjects have at- 
tracted wide attention. He received 
the degree of LL. D. from the universi- 
ties of Edinburgh and Oxford. Died 
April 15, 1888. 

ARNOLD, EDWIN. 

Mr. Arnold has visited America sev- 
eral times and is well known among 
the literary circles of this country. He 
was born June 10, 1832, was educated 
at King's College, London, and Uni- 
versity College, Oxford, where he gra- 



560 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



dilated in 1854. For a time he held a 
government position in India as an 
educator. The work by which he is 
best known is entitled, " The Light of 
Asia," jDublished in 1879. This poem 
was widely read in America and was 
considered to possess many claims for 
admiration. Mr. Arnold is a prolific 
author, and his works have secured a 
wide circle of readers. His scholarly 
and finished style entitles him to high 
rank among the authors of the day. 

BANCROFT, GEORGE. 

He is principally distinguished as the 
author of the history of our country, 
but not without note as a diplomatist 
and statesman ; he was born in Worces- 
ter, Massachusetts, October 3d, 1800. 
At the age of thirteen he entered Har- 
vard College, graduated with high hon- 
ors in 1817, and spent two years in 
study at Gottingen, Germany, where 
in 1820 he received the degree of Doc- 
tor of Philosophy. Returning to Ame- 
rica in 1822, he served a year as a Greek 
tutor in Harvard College when he and 
Dr. Cogswell, a fellow-tutor, established 
the Round Hill School at Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts, with which Ban- 
croft was associated until 1830. In 1823 
he published a volume of poems, and 
subsequently made translations from 
the German of the minor poems of 
Goethe, Schiller, etc., and of some of 
the historico-political works of Heeren. 

In 1834 appeared the first volume of 
his " History of the United States from 
the Discovery of the Continent;" fol- 
lowed by the second and third volumes 
in 1837 and 1840 respectively — the 
whole embracing " The History of the 
Colonization of the United States." 
These were succeeded in the interval 



from 1852 to i860 by five volumes nar- 
rating the history of the colonial period 
to the Declaration of Independence, and 
in 1866 and 1874 respectively by the 
two concluding volumes, bringing the 
history to the treaty of peace with the 
mother-country in 1782. Bancroft sub- 
sequently published " The History of 
the Formation of the Constitution of 
the United States" (2 vols., 1882,) 
which afterwards formed a constituent 
part of the revised edition of the com- 
plete "History of the United States-" 
embraced in six volumes (1882-84). 

Bancroft served as collector of the 
port of Boston (1838-41), under Presi- 
dent Van Buren, and was an unsuccess- 
ful candidate for the governorship of 
Massachusetts in 1844. He accepted a 
seat in the cabinet of President Polk as 
secretary of the Navy in 1845, and the 
following year was appointed minister 
to the court of St. James, a position 
which he filled until 1849, with honor 
to his country. A period of retirement 
from public life followed his return to 
America. In the civil war he was 
heartily in accord with the national 
government, and in 1867 he was ap- 
pointed by President Johnson, minister 
to Berlin, serving with distinguished 
ability until recalled at his own request 
in 1874. The American press con- 
tained highly appreciative notices of 
Mr. Bancroft's character and work on 
the occasion of his death, January 17, 
1891. 

BEERS, ETHEL LYNN ELLIOT. 

This American poetess, who is well 
known for several popular lyrics, was 
born at Goshen, N. J., in 1827. Her 
maiden name was Ethelinda Elliott. 
Her patriotic poem entitled,. "The 
Picket-guard," or " 'All quiet along the 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



561 



Potomac,' they say," first published in 
"Harper's Weekly" in 1861, became 
instantly popular, and its authorship 
was contested. Although her poetry is 
remarkable for simplicity of style and 
ftsisy versification, it is yet full of life 
and spirit. A volume of her poems ap- 
peared in 1878, and in the following 
year she died. Few authors have be- 
come so widely known by reasons of 
productions so few in number. 

BOKER, GEORGE H. 

Mr. Boker is known especially for his 
"War lyyrics," published in 1864, ii^ 
some of which the scenes of the civil 
war are depicted with graphic force. 
His first volume was entitled, "The 
Lesson of Life and Other Poems," and 
appeared in 1847. Several other vol- 
umes followed in rapid succession, all 
of which were well received by the 
reading public. That he is entitled to 
a conspicuous place among American 
poets, is generally conceded. 

Born in Philadelphia, October 6, 1823, 
he graduated at Princeton in 1842, and 
studied law, but never practiced. He 
was a man of some prominence in public 
afiairs and in 1871 was appointed minis- 
ter to Constantinople, and in 1874 n^in- 
ister to St. Petersburg. He was the 
editor of "Lippincott's Magazine" sev- 
eral years. His death occurred in Phila- 
delphia, January 2, 1890. 

BONAR, HORATIUS. 

The author of many beautiful hymns, 
the fame of which is world-wide, was a 
native of Scotland, and was born in 
Edinburgh in 1808. In 1856 he published 
"Hymns of Faith and Hope," and a 
second series of the same in 1861. He 
was for many years a minister of the 

36 



Free Church, and published several re- 
ligious works which have had an enor- 
mous circulation. He participated act- 
ively in all evangelistic work, and, in 
addition to his pastoral labors, was 
heard frequently in religious conven- 
tions. Died in 1879. 

BRONTE, EMILY. 

Was born in Yorkshire, England, 
about 1819. She was one of the authors 
of a volume entitled, " Poems by Currer, 
Ellis and Acton Bell," published in 
1846. She was also the author of a 
novel entitled, "Wuthering Heights," 
issued in 1847, the merit of which has 
been variously estimated. Died in De- 
cember, 1848. It is universally con- 
ceded that she had talent of a high 
order, as is evidenced by the fact that 
fifty years after her death her works 
were still in demand and had a wide 
circle of readers. 

BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT. 

Mrs. Browning must be considered 
one of the most gifted poets of our time, 
her works appealing especially to people 
of intellectual refinement and cultivated 
taste. In person she was slight, with 
dark hair and complexion ; an easy 
modest manner and cordiality drew to 
her many friends. She was born at 
Durham, March 6, 1809. Her father, 
Mr. Barrett, was a wealthy merchant of 
London, who gave his daughter in early 
life the best opportunities for education. 
At ten years of age she exhibited fine 
poetical talent, which was diligently 
cultivated. 

In 1 846 she was married to the poet, 
Robert Browning, with whom she re- 
sided in Italy for many years. She 
produced in 1851 "Casa Guidi Win- 



562 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



dows," a poem which treats of the 
political condition of Italy. "This," 
says the "North British Review," "is 
the happiest of Mrs. Brownings per- 
formances, because it makes no preten- 
sions to high artistic character, and is 
^really a simple story of personal impres- 
sions," Her largest, and withal her 
greatest work, is "Aurora Leigh," a 
poem, or novel in verse, which is greatly 
admired. This was published in 1856, 
and in the same year a new edition of 
her poem.s was issued in three volumes. 
She died at Florence, Italy, in June, 
1861. 

BROWNING, ROBERT. 

This most subtle and intellectual of 
contemporary English poets, was born 
at Camberwell, May 7, 18 12. His father, 
a man of parts, was engaged in the city 
of London. The future poet, after re- 
ceiving local education, attended lec- 
tures at University College, and then 
travelled abroad. From his earliest years 
he had been accustomed to write verse, 
and while still a youth, acquired the 
triple reputation of poet, musician and 
modeller. 

"Pauline," a dramatic poem, written 
at the age of nineteen, was published 
in 1833. Two years later appeared his 
" Paracelsus," which revealed a greater 
force. Its energy, its boldness of thought, 
its lofty aspirations, and its grip of 
human passion, stamped the author as 
one of the most promising of the younger 
poets. 

In his later poems the poet pressed 
into his service in a masterly degree, 
humor, pathos, passion and tenderness; 
while the whole were distinguished for 
their ringing and melodious versifica- 
tion. Browning married in 1846 Eliza- 
beth Barrett, herself a poetess of high 



and noble gifts, and with her he weni 
to Florence, where they lived in per- 
fect and happy union. In 1850 Brown- 
ing published " Christmas Eve and 
Easter Day," poems which defended 
catholicity in religion, the good to be 
discovered in the varying forms of 
Christianity. 

The " Browning Society " was estab- 
lished in 1 88 1 for the purpose of pro- 
moting the study and influence of the 
poet's works, and the example of Lon- 
don has been followed by many other 
large centres in Great Britain, the colo- 
nies and the United States. As a poet, 
Browning is distinguished for his ca- 
pacity in creating real men and women, 
and also for the depths of his spiritual 
insight. His lyrical faculty, dramatic 
energy, and power of psychological 
analysis have rarely been equalled. Be- 
sides being one of the most erudite of 
poets, he has intense human sympathy 
and high imaginative gifts, and a pro- 
found vigorous faith. His style is too 
frequently obscure and difficult, his ver- 
sification hard and rugged, and his 
rhymes forced. Mr. Browning died in 
December, 1889. 

BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN. 

Mr. Bryant easily ranks among the 
first American poets, and in some re- 
spects excels all others. A profound 
love of nature, fine poetic fancy, love 
of home and country and easy versifica- 
tion characterize his works, which have 
struck the popular heart and have been 
widely read. It is perhaps not a little 
singular that his most famous poem, 
" Thanatopsis," was written while yet 
he was a young man at Williams Col- 
lege. 

Mr. Bryant was horn in Hampshire 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



563 



county, Mass., on the 3rd of November, 
1794. In college he distinguished him- 
self in the languages, became a student 
of law in 18 12, and afterward practiced 
law for several years. He removed to 
New York City in 1825, and soon after 
became one of the editors of the " Even- 
ing Post," which he continued to edit 
with great ability until his death. 

A collection of his poems was pub- 
lished in 1832, Soon after he visited 
Europe and travelled in Egypt and 
Syria, writing letters home, which were 
afterward collected into a volume enti- 
tled, "Letters of a Traveller." Mr. 
Bryant was always a warm advocate of 
political reforms, opposed the extension 
of slavery, and ardently supported the 
Union during the civil war. ' ' No poet, ' ' 
says Griswold, "has described with 
more fidelity the beauties of the crea- 
tion, or sung in nobler song the great- 
ness of the Creator. He is the trans- 
lator of the silent language of the uni- 
verse to the world." His translations 
from foreign languages are graceful and 
accurate reproductions of the originals, 
rivalling those of Longfellow. Died June 
12, 1878. 

BYRON, LORD. 

Byron's genius flashed out like a bril- 
liant meteor, compelling attention, and 
for the most part admiration. He was 
born in London, January 22, 1788. In 
early life he exhibited strong passions, 
an almost ungovernable will, and, at 
times, a rashness which occasionally 
appeared even in his later years. Among 
his mates he was courageous, quick to 
take an insult, and was never satisfied 
'Until it had been resented. In 1805 he 
went to Trinity College, Cambridge, 
which he lef<" two vears after without a 
degree. 



During his stay at the University, he 
published a volume of poems entitled, 
"Hours of Idleness," which was very 
severely criticised in the " Edinburgh 
Review." The poet wrote by way of 
retaliation, his " English Bards and 
Scotch Reviewers,' ' a caustic and scath- 
ing satire, which at the time caused a 
great sensation and convinced the crit- 
ics that Byron's genius was not to be 
terror-stricken or reduced to silence by 
"paper bullets of the brain." 

In 1809 he travelled throughout Eu- 
rope, and while in Greece, surrounded 
by the classic associations of that coun- 
try, he warmly espoused the cause of 
Greek independence, a theme which 
inspired some of his loftiest strains. On 
his return to England, he published the 
first two cantos of "Childe Harold's 
Pilerimaofe," the success of which was 
so sudden and extraordinary that, as he 
tells us, "he awoke one morning and 
found himself famous." Soon after he 
took his seat in the House of Lords, to 
which by birth he was entitled. Byron 
wrote easily and rapidly. His various 
works followed one another in rapid 
succession. Some of his most pathetic 
verses were inspired by the infelicities 
of his domestic relations. 

That he had great faults has been 
universally admitted ; nor can it be 
denied that his genius was of the high- 
est order. Macaulay's critical pen places 
him in the front rank of modern poets 
and declares he has never been excelled 
in the expression of scorn, misanthropy 
and despair, and that there is not a sin- 
gle note of human anguish of which he 
was not master. He died on the 19th 
of April, 1824, at the early age of 3C, 
yet had already achieved undyius 
fame. 



564 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 

Author of " The Pleasures of Hope," 
and many other poems marked by true 
poetic genius, was a native of Scotland, 
aud was born at Glasgow in 1777. 
After a brilliant literary career, he died 
at Boulogne in 1844, and was buried in 
Westminster Abbey, Lord Macaulay, 
Dean Milman, and other celebrities act- 
ing as pall-bearers. Few poems of any 
author have become more generally 
known, or have been received with 
greater favor. His poems entitled " Ho- 
henlinden," "Lochiel" and "Gertrude 
of Wyoming," have been universally 
popular and were known to all the 
school-children of our own country a 
generation ago. 

CARLETON, WILL M. 

This popular American poet was born 
at Hudson, Michigan, October 21st, 
1845. He graduated at Hillsdale Col- 
lege in 1869, His principal works are 
"Farm Ballads" (1873), "Farm Leg- 
ends" (1875), "Young Folks' Centen- 
nial Rhymes" (1876), and "Farm Fes- 
tivals" (1883). 

Mr. Carleton's tastes and style qualify 
him to portray in a very effective man- 
ner domestic scenes and the experiences 
incident to country life, an example of 
which is found in his well-known 
poems entitled " Over the Hills to the 
Poorhouse," and "Betsy and I Are 
Out." 

CARLYLE. THOMAS. 

This distinguished, and withal, ec- 
centric author gained by his writings a 
wide celebrity for originality, graphic 
description and vigorous English. Bold 
in thought, a hater of shams, rugged 
in matter and manner, his striking 
essays forced themselves upon the atten- 



tion of the public. Mr. Carlyle must 
be considered as one of the most bril- 
liant authors of his day. The work 
that gave him the greatest reputation 
was his " History of the French Revo- 
lution,'' which depicted with remark- 
able force the bloody scenes of that 
social and political convulsion. Born 
at Ecclefechan, Scotland, in 179S. Died 
February 5, 1881. 

GARY, ALICE. 

This well-known American authoress 
first came into notice by her contribu- 
tion to the "National Era," for which 
she wrote under the 7io}n de plume of 
" Patty Lee." Her " Clovernook," com- 
prising sketches of western life, was 
popular both in America and England. 
Several works of fiction, and various 
poems, have also met with marked favor. 
Born near Cincinnati, Ohio, 1820, died 
in New York, where she resided during 
the latter part of her life, in 1871. She 
was also gifted in the portrayal of domes- 
tic scenes and the charms of country life. 

The writings of the Cary sisters have 
long been familiar to the American 
people, their moral tone, felicitous ex- 
pression and elevated sentiment hav- 
ing given them wide popularity. From 
their gifted pens have come several 
hymns that have gained a high degree 
of favor. It is rarely that two members 
of the same family exhibit so high an 
order of genius. 

CARY, PHOBBE. 

She was the younger sister of Alice 
and equally gifted. Her birthplace 
was the Miami Valley, where she was 
born in 1824; her death occurred in 
1 87 1. She published independently 
several volumes of buoyant pleasant 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



565 



verse and contributed a third of the 
"Poems of Alice and Phcebe Gary," 
published in 1850. During the later 
years of their life the Gary sisters re- 
sided in New York, were actively en- 
gaged in religious work, and were 
fereatly beloved by a large circle of 
friends. 

COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE. 

The popular author of the " Iveather- 
Stocking Tales " was born at Burling- 
ton, N. J., in September, 1789. His 
father was Judge Gooper, a well-known 
public man, and his mother's maiden 
name was Fenimore. About 1790 the 
family moved to the shore of Otsego 
Lake in New York where they founded 
Cooperstown, having taken up a large 
tract of land which was then on the 
outskirts of civilization and the resi- 
dence of Indian tribes. Young Gooper 
entered Yale Gollege in 1802, remained 
there about three years and then entered 
the navy as a midshipman. In 181 1 
he retired from the navy and was mar- 
ried the same year. 

His first literary work was a novel, 
entitled "Precaution," which was pub- 
lished in 1 8 19 and was a failure. Being 
a man of great energy and conscious 
that there was something in him more 
than he had shown, he continued his 
literary work and published " The Spy," 
founded on incidents connected with 
the Revolutionary war. It was very 
successful and was re-published in Eng- 
land. It was translated into several 
languages, and marked the beginning 
of that long literary career which placed 
Mr. Gooper's name among the most dis- 
tinguished American authors. " He 
has the high praise," says the " North 
American Review," " and will have the 



future glory of having struck into a new 
path, of having opened a mine of ex- 
haustless wealth. In a word he has laid 
the foundation of American romance." 

Other tales from the pen of Gooper 
followed, many of which were a vivid 
portrayal of Indian life, with which he 
was made familiar by personal contact 
with the Red Men. His works are 
numerous and some of them have been 
immensely popular, such as " The 
Pioneers," " The Last of the Mohicans," 
"The Deerslayers, " "Story of the 
American Navy," etc., etc. He died 
in Gooperstown in September, 185 1. 

"He wrote for mankind at large," 
saysW. G. Bryant, "hence it is that he 
has earned a fame wider than any Ameri- 
can author of modern times. The crea- 
tion of his genius shall survive through 
centuries to come, and only perish with 
our language." "His writings," says 
William H. Prescott, " are instinct with 
the spirit of nationality. In his produc- 
tions every American must take an 
honest pride. For surely no one has 
succeeded like Gooper in the portraiture 
of American character, or has given 
such glowing and eminently truthful 
pictures of American scenery. ' ' 

CRAIK, DINAH MARIA MULOCH. 

She was born at Stoke-upon-Trent in 
1826. She early took the burden of 
supporting an ailing mother and two 
younger brothers, and wrote stories for 
fashion-books, as well as for graver 
publications. Her first serious appear- 
ance as a novelist was in 1849, with her 
story "The Ogilvies," which was fol- 
lowed by "Olive, the Head of the 
Family," "Agatha's Husband." But 
she never surpassed or even equalled 
her domestic novel "John Halifax" 



566 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



(1857), which has had, and still con- 
tinues to have, an extraordinary popu- 
larity, and has been translated into 
French, German, Italian, Greek, and 
Russian. The scene is laid at Tewkes- 
bury, where a marble medallion has 
been placed to her memory in the abbey. 

CROSS, MARIAN EVANS LEWIS 
(GEORGE ELIOT). 

An English writer of remarkable 
power, the daughter of Robert Evans, 
a surveyor. She was born November 
22, 1 8 19, and subsequently became one 
of the most distinguished writers of the 
century. In 1858 appeared her "Adam 
Bede," followed by "The Mill on the 
Floss"(i859), " Silas Marner " (1861), 
etc., etc., " Middlemarch " appeared in 
1872, "Daniel Deronda" in 1876. She 
was married in the spring of 1880 to a 
Mr. Cross, and died December 22 of the 
same year. 

DICKENS, CHARLES. 

The name of Gladstone, or Napoleon, 
or Lincoln, or McKinley, is not better 
known than that of Pickwick, or Ma- 
cawber, or Pecksniff, or Uriah Heap, or 
MarkTapley, or Barkis, or Sairy Gamp, 
or Little Nell, or many others that might 
be mentioned, all of which, although 
fictitious, seem quite as real as any his- 
toric character from Julius Caesar to 
General Grant. What amazing genius 
could create these characters and endow 
them with an endless life? There has 
never been but one man who could 
make fictitious characters so life-like 
and so universally known, causing them 
to become, as it were, household names. 

The great novelist, whose works of 
fiction are known and read throughout 
the civilized world, and who gained a 
renown unequaled by that of any author 



of recent times, was born at Portsmouth, 
England, February 7, 18 12. His father 
wished him to enter the profession of 
law, but soon becoming disgusted with 
it, because he was conscious that it was 
not his proper sphere, he gave up the 
study of it, removed to London, and. 
became a reporter for the "Morning 
Chronicle." For this paper he began 
to write sketches that at once attracted 
attention and showed their author to be 
possessed of an uncommon faculty for 
depicting common life both in its tragic 
and humorous phases. 

Dickens was only 24 years old when 
he published " Pickwick Papers." He 
immediately sprang into popularity, and 
became the favorite writer of both Eng- 
land and America. His subsequent 
works, such as "Oliver Twist," "Ni- 
cholas Nickelby," "David Copper- 
field," "A Tale of Two Cities," "The 
Old Curiosity Shop," and many others 
all served to increase his reputation, 
although it was predicted that he would 
soon "write himself out." He main- 
tained his reputation by his wonderful 
creations in the realm of fiction and the 
charm of his transcendent genius. 

Many of his works show intense sym- 
pathy with the lower classes and the 
struggling poor, the hard worked sons 
and daughters of toil, and those who 
are the victims of greed and oppression. 
It is not too much to say that some of ' 
the most important reforms in England 
which benefitted the laboring classes, 
could be traced directly to the influence 
of his magic pen. Mr. Dickens came to 
this country on two occasions. On 
the first he angered many of his ad- 
mirers by his caustic comments on 
American society and customs. On the 
second occasion he appeared as a public 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



56V 



reader of his own works and was wel- 
comed by thousands in all our larger 
cities. Work was his element, in fact, 
over-work, from which he undoubtedly 
died, June 9, 1870, and was buried in 
''Poet's Corner," Westminster Abbey. 

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO. 

Few names in American literature 
represent so much of that kind of 
thought which sets others thinking 
and influences them as does the name 
of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was 
born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1803, 
and died in Concord, Mass., April, 1882. 
His father was a respected minister, and 
his mother was a woman of more than 
ordinary mind and education. Emerson 
graduated at Harvard in 1821, yet did 
not take high rank in his class. He 
was successful, however, in obtaining a 
prize for an English essay. After grad- 
uating he became a teacher, and at the 
same time studied theology under the 
direction of Dr. Channing. 

As a young man he is described as 
grave, gentle and never punishing his 
pupils except by words. Having be- 
come a contributor to several magazines 
and having written a work on "Eng- 
lish Traits," he became somewhat 
known as an author, yet the product of 
his mind came slowly as did the appre- 
ciation of the reading public. A vein 
of philosophy runs through his writings, 
which appeal especially to those of 
scholarly tendencies. 

His published works comprise "Na- 
ture; Addresses and Lectures;" "Es- 
says," first and second series; "Repre- 
sentative Men;" "The Conduct of 
Life;" "Society and Solitude ;" "Let- 
ters and Social Aims;" "Poems;" 
"Lectures and Biographical Sketches ;" 



"Miscellanies." Emerson wrote occa- 
sionally in verse from his schooldays, 
yet the charm of his poetry is more that 
of profound thought than of imagina- 
tion or vivid description. Obtaining 
the title of " The Concord Philosopher," 
he freqently appeared in public as a 
lecturer, but in his later years with- 
drew from the public gaze and passed 
his last days in that philosophic repose 
which might be expected from one of 
his temperament and peculiar menta? 
characteristics. 

FIELD, EUGENE. 

A popular American poet, whose pro- 
ductions, of a pathetic as well as humor- 
ous character, have made him widely 
known. He was educated in Massa- 
chusetts, thence going to Wisconsin 
and entering journalism, and finally be- 
coming connected with a leading daily 
of Chicago. Many of his pieces were 
written for children, and are highly ap- 
preciated by the little folks. Died in 
1896. 

GREELEY, HORACE. 

Our greatest American journalist was 
born at Amherst, N. H., in February, 
181 1, and was the son of a poor farmer, 
who removed to Vermont in 1821. 
Having learned the art of printing, 
young Greeley finally made his way to 
the city of New York. After being 
connected with several journals, he 
founded the "Daily Tribune" in 1841, 
and continued as its editor up to the 
time of his death, in 1872. Mr. Greeley 
was a man of very pronounced opinions, 
and great ability in advocating and de- 
fending them. No journalist was ever 
better known to the people at large, 
and none in this countryt ever exerted 
so vast an influence. In 1872 he was 



568 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



the Liberal candidate for President of 
the United States, but failed of election, 
the vote of the country being largely 
given to Grant. The result was a great 
disappointment to Mr. Greeley whose 
friends led him to believe he was sure 
of election. He died November 29, 1872. 

HALLECK, FITZ=QREENE. 

This American poet was born at 
Guilford, Connecticut, July 8, 1790. 
By his mother he was descended from 
John Eliot, " the apostle of the Indians." 
He became a clerk in a bank in New 
York in 181 1, and in 1832 the private 
secretary of John Jacob Astor ; 1849 he 
retired, on an annuity of $200 left him 
by Astor, to his native town, where he 
spent the remainder of his days, and 
died November 19, 1867. 

From his boyhood Halleck wrote 
verses, and in 18 19 he contributed, with 
Joseph Rodman Drake, a series of hu- 
morous satirical papers in verse to the 
New York "Evening Post." In the 
same year he published his longest 
poem, " Fanny," a satire on the litera- 
ture, fashions, and politics of the time, 
in the measure of "Don Juan." He 
visited Europe in 1822, and in 1827 
published anonymously an edition of 
his poems. In 1 865 he published " Young 
America," a poem of three hundred lines. 

His complete "Poetical Writings" 
have been edited by his biographer 
(1869). Halleck is a fair poet. His 
style is spirited, flowing, graceful and 
harmonious. His poems display much 
geniality and tender feeling. Their 
humor is quaint and pungent, and if 
not rich is always refined. The poem 
by which he is better known than by 
any other is entitled, " Marco Bozar- 
ris," beginning with the well known 



line, " At midnight in his guarded 
tent." 

HARTE, FRANCIS BRET. 

Mr. Harte has achieved distinction by 
his poems in dialect and by his prose 
works which make a point of delineat- 
ing western life and manners. He was 
first brought to notice by his jingle en- 
titled " The Heathen Chinee." He was 
born at Albany, New York, August 25, 
1839, went to California in 1854, learned 
the art of printing, and in 1857 became 
connected with a newspaper, first as 
printer and finally as editor. For six 
years, beginning with 1864, he was 
secretary of the United vStates Mint ar 
San Francisco. He then connected 
himself with a magazine called the 
" Overland Monthly," and afterward 
held a professorship of recent literature 
in the University of California. Since 
that time he has been United States 
Consul at several foreign ports, at the 
same time carrying on his literary pur- 
suits. 

Many of his books are collections of 
short tales skilfully written and possess- 
ing undoubted merit. Among his well- 
known works are " The Luck of Roar- 
ing Camp," "East and West Poems," 
' ' Tales of the Argonauts, ' ' etc. 

HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL. 

The well-known author of the cele- 
brated " Scarlet Letter" and "House 
of Seven Gables," together with other 
works which have placed hira in the first 
rank of modern authors, was born at 
Salem, Massachusetts, on the 4th of 
July, 1804. He graduated at Bowdoin 
College, Maine, in 1825, Longfellow the 
poet being one of his classmates. His 
nature was extremely sensitive, his dis- 
position retiring, his acquaintances few 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



569 



and his manner gentle and winning. In 
person he was tall, broad-shonldered 
and possessed what might be called a 
majestic presence. Both in mind and 
body he was constructed to be a com- 
manding figure and made a powerful 
impression upon all who met him. 

Hawthorne made the acquaintance of 
Franklin Pierce, afterward President of 
the United States, who did much to 
cheer him in his fits of despondency, 
and when he became President ap- 
pointed him as our consul at Iviverpool, 
which was the most lucrative office at 
his disposal. Previous to this, Haw- 
thorne, under Mr. Polk's administration, 
was appointed surveyor of the port of 
Salem, Massachusetts, which he held 
for three years. In 1850 he published 
his celebrated "Scarlet Ivetter," a ro- 
mance of extraordinary power, and by 
some considered his masterpiece, al- 
though for this distinction it has to 
compete with his " House of Seven 
Gables " and his " Marble Faun." 

It is generally conceded that in ele- 
gance of style, felicity of expression, 
use of pure English simplicity, clear- 
ness and force, he is unrivalled among 
American authors. The criticism has 
been made that there is a morbid ele- 
ment in Mr. Hawthorne's writings, a 
fiery glow of suppressed excitement 
which renders them unwholesome read- 
ing. This judgment, however, is not 
likely to be accepted by the average 
reader as strictly correct. Died suddenly 
at Plymouth, Mass., 1864. 

HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA. 

This poetess was born at Liverpool, 
September 25, 1793. Her father, George 
Browne, was a Liverpool merchant, of 
Irish extraction ; her mother, whose 



maiden name was Wagner, was of mixed 
Italian and German descent. Felicia 
was distinguished for her beauty and 
precocity, and at an early age she mani- 
fested a taste for poetry, in which she 
was encouraged by her mother. Family 
reverses led to the removal of the 
Brownes to Wales, where the young 
poetess imbibed a strong passion for 
nature, read books of chronicle and 
romance, and gained a working know- 
ledge of the German, Italian, Spanish, 
and Portuguese languages. 

She also cultivated her excellent 
musical taste. Her first volume was 
published in 1808, when she was only 
fifteen years of age, and contained a 
few pieces written about four years 
earlier. Her second entitled " The Do- 
mestic Affections," appeared in 18 12. 

In the same year she married Captain 
Hemansof the Fourth Regiment, whose 
health had suffered in the retreat on 
Corunna, and afterward in the Wal- 
cheren expedition, and who settled in 
Italy in 18 18. After this time they 
never met again : their marriage was 
understood not to have been happy. 
Mrs, Hemans, though in poor health, 
now devoted herself to the education of 
her children, to reading and writing, 
and spent the rest of her life in North 
Wales, Lancashire, and later at Dublin, 
where she died. May 16, 1835. 

Mrs. Hemans, without great original- 
ity or force, is yet sweet, natural and pleas- 
ing. But she was too, fluent and wrote 
much and hastily ; her lyrics are her 
best productions; her more ambitious 
poems, especially her tragedies, being, 
in fact, quite insipid. Still, she was a 
woman of,true,genius, though her range 
was circumscribed, and some of. her 
little lyrics, "The Voice of Spring,'* 



670 



CEI^EBRATED AUTH0R8. 



" The Better Land," " The Graves of a 
Household," "The Treasures of the 
Deep," and " The Homes of England," 
are perfect in pathos and sentiment, and 
will live as long as the English lan- 
guage. These are found in almost every 
school collection, and this early familiar- 
ity with her sweet and simple lyrics has 
helped to keep her memory green. 

HOLLAND, JOSIAH GILBERT. 

Dr. Holland is a fine example of an 
author whose works are pure in senti- 
ment, contain practical every-day helps 
for the conduct of life, and are admira- 
bly suited to the average reader. He 
was born in Belchertown, Massachu- 
setts, July 24, 1 8 19, and graduated at 
the Berkshire medical college at Pitts- 
field, in 1844. He soon abandoned his 
profession, however, and after fifteen 
months as a school superintendent at 
Richmond, Va., became assistant editor 
of the Springfield "Republican," of 
which he was part proprietor also from 
185 1 to 1866. 

In 1870, with Roswell Smith and the 
Scribners, he founded "Scribner's 
Monthly," which he conducted success- 
fully till his death, October 12, 1881. 
In this magazine appeared his novels, 
"Arthur Bonnicastle" (1873), "The 
Story of Seven Oaks" (1875), and 
"Nicholas Minturn" (1876). His 
"Timothy Titcomb's Letters" (1858) 
went through nine editions in a few 
months; and this sale was succeeded by 
his "Life of Lincoln" and his most 
popular poems " Bitter Sweet " (1858), 
"Kathrina" (1867), and "The Mistress 
of the Manse" (1874). Most of Hol- 
land's works have been republished in 
Britain. 

The works of Dr. Holland have been 



widely read by the American people. 
His letters to young people have passed 
through many editions, and are well 
worthy of a place in everv household. 
They abound in a certain practical 
sense and homely wisdom which stand 
in striking contrast to the cheap litera- 
ture of the day, the influence of which 
cannot be considered the most healthful. 

HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL. 

For many years Dr. Holmes was the 
most conspicuous figure in the literary 
circles of Boston. His ripe culture, his 
poetic genius, his inexhaustable fund of 
humor and his genial disposition dis- 
played in all his productions, made him 
one of the best known writers of his 
time. He was born in Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, August 29, 1809, and at 
the age of twenty graduated at Harvard 
College. His father was a Congrega- 
tional minister and a writer of some 
note in his day. After leaving college 
Dr. Holmes studied law, but soon 
changed his profession to that of medi- 
cine. Having pursued his medical 
studies in Europe he returned to this 
country, and in 1838 was elected pro- 
fessor of anatomy and physiology in 
Dartmouth College, subsequently filling 
the same chair at Harvard. 

While a young man, and before leav- 
ing college, he had distinguished him 
self as a poet and a writer of great ori 
ginality. One of his first literary suc- 
cesses consisted of contributions to the 
" Atlantic Monthly " under the title of 
" The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table," 
which were followed later by another 
series of papers called "The Professor 
of the Breakfast-Table," and "The 
Poet at the Breakfast-Table." These 
papers were widely read and enjoyed by 



celebrate;d authors. 



571 



reason of their subtle thought, quaint 
humor and deep insight into human 
nature. He wrote two works of fiction, 
"Elsie Venner," and "The Guardian 
Angel." Numerous other productions 
followed, including poems on various 
occasions, all of which stamped him as 
a man of decided genius. He published 
a biography of his friend Emerson 
which showed a just appreciation of the 
"Concord Philosopher." 

Dr. Holmes was especially happy in 
his verses written for public occasions. 
His death occurred October 7th, 1894, 
at the ripe age of 85 years. Few 
American authors have left so distinct 
an impression upon our literature. His 
attractive qualities as a neighbor, friend 
and companion, are worthy of especial 
mention. 

HOOD, THOMAS. 

The genius, the poet, whose unri- 
valled productions by their pathos and 
humor awaken alternate tears and 
laughter, most of whose life was a sad 
struggle with adversity, was born in 
London in 1798. His name is associated 
with the periodical literature of his 
time, both as manager and author. His 
best known pathetic pieces are "The 
Song of the Shirt," and "The Bridge 
of Sighs;" while "Faithless Nellie 
Gray," and "Faithless Sallie Brown" 
are happy specimens of his rollicking 
humor. Hood died in 1845. 

HUGO, VICTOR. 

This French celebrity, whose writings 
are among the most remarkable of any 
age or country, was born at Besancon 
in 1802. In early life he exhibited a 
passion for politics and first employed 
his pen upon political themes. In 18 18 
he received prizes for several royalist 



odes. Through his long and brilliant 
career he displayed great activity, be- 
came a voluminous author of prose and 
verse, received the highest distinctions 
that could be conferred upon him by 
his-countrymen, and was recognized as 
a distinct power in the politics and 
literature of France. His rich imagi- 
nation, wonderful descriptive power and 
deep sympathy with the suffering poor 
and unfortunate, serve to render him 
not only the best known author of 
France, but by a large majority of his 
countrymen, the best beloved and the 
most admired. 

Among his most successful and pow- 
erful works are " Notre Dame de Paris," 
a romance (1831), " Le Roi s'amuse," a 
drama (1832), " Les Miserables," a 
novel (1862), "The Toilers of the Sea," 
(1865), and poems entitled " The Leaves 
of Autumn,' ' which, says a French critic, 
"contain beauties of the first order." 
He was admitted into the French Aca- 
demy in 1 84 1, and raised to the rank of 
peer in 1845. He gave his cordial ad- 
hesion to the republic of 1848, and was 
elected to the Constituent Assembly by 
the voters of Paris. He opposed Cava- 
ignac, and in 1849 joined ^^^ party of 
advanced Democrats of whom he be- 
came a leader and distinguished orator. 
For his opposition to the " coup d'etat" 
of December 2d, 185 1, he was ban- 
ished. 

He retired to the island of Guernsey, 
where he resided until the fall of the 
empire, when he returned to Paris. In 
1 87 1 he was elected to the National 
Assembly, but soon resigned his seat 
and went to Brussels. He was expelled 
for his sympathy with the Communists 
there, and again returned to Paris. 
Died May 22, 1885. 



572 



CEIyEBRATED AUTHORS. 



IRVING, WASHINGTON. 

The first American who obtained a 
European reputation merely as a man 
of letters, was born at New York, April 
3, 1783. Both l^is parents were immi- 
grants from Great Britain. Irving was 
intended for the legal profession, but 
his studies were interrupted by an ill- 
ness necessitating a voyage to Europe, 
in the course of which he proceeded as 
far as Rome, and made the acquaintance 
of Washington Allstou. He was called 
to the bar upon his return, but made 
little effort' to practice, preferring to 
amuse himself with literary ventures. 

The first of these of any importance, 
a satirical miscellany entitled "Sal- 
magundi," which was written in con- 
junction with his brother William and 
J. K. Paulding, gave ample proof of his 
talents as a humorist. These were still 
more conspicuously displayed in his 
next attempt, " Knickerbocker's His- 
tory of New York," (1809). 

The satire of "Salmagundi" had 
been principally local, and the original 
design of "Knickerbocker's History" 
was only to burlesque a pretentious dis- 
quisition on the history of the city in 
a guide book by Dr. Samuel Mit- 
chell. The idea expanded as Irving 
proceeded, and he ended by not merely 
satirizing the pedantry of local anti- 
quaries, but by creating a distinct liter- 
ary type out of the solid Dutch burgher 
whose phlegm had long been an object 
of ridicule to the mercurial Americans. 
Though far frdm the most finished of 
Irving's productions, " Knickerbocker " 
manifests the most original power, and 
is the most genuinely national in its 
quaintness and drollery. 

In 1820 Irving brought out "Geoffrey 
Crayon's Sketch Book," which contains 



an interesting description of an English 
Christmas, displaying the most delicate 
humor. Some stories and sketches on 
American themes gave it variety ; of 
these " Rip Van Winkle " was the most 
remarkable. It speedily obtained the 
greatest success on both sides of the 
Atlantic. Other works followed, among 
which were "Tales of a Traveller,'* 
" The Conquest of Grenada" and " The 
Alhambra." 

In execution Irving's works are 
almost faultless ; the narrative is easy, 
the style pellucid, and the writer's 
judgment nearly always in accordance 
with the general verdict of history. 
They will not, therefore, be easily super- 
ceded, and indeed Irving's productions 
are in general impressed with that sig- 
net of classical finish which guarantees 
the permanency of literary work more 
surely than direct utility or even intel- 
lectual power. Died in 1839. 

KEAT5, JOHN. 

Youngest to rise and earliest to set in 
that brilliant constellation of poets who 
ennobled England during the first half 
of the nineteenth century, John Keats, 
both in himself and in his work, is one 
of the most profoundly interesting and 
attractive figures in literature. In char- 
acter, true, magnanimous, modest and 
tender ; much tried and rarely failing, 
throughout training himself sedulously 
for the highest achievements in poetry 
— his life as a man and as an artist was 
one of persistent growth onward and 
upward. 

Keats was born in Finsbury, London, 
son of a respectable livery stable keeper ; 
sent early to school at Enfield where an 
elder boy, Cowden Clarke, turned his 
boyish energies at thirteen toward 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



5TS 



literature. Henceforth Keats read much 
and widely. Quitting school in 1810, 
Keats was first apprenticed to a surgeon, 
then, till 18 17, practised diligently in 
London, and (for his age), with success. 
But poetry had now become paramount, 
and his high sense of duty withdrew him 
from a profession demanding imperi- 
ously a man's entire devotion. 

lycigh Hunt welcomed Keats as a 
contributor to the " Examiner," and 
he soon gained celebrity. Unfortunately 
he developed a tendency to consumption 
which interfered with his literary labors. 
In 18 1 7 he published " Endymion." In 
addition to this we may mention as 
arwong the most important of his works, 
"Hyperion," "Lamia," and "Isabella." 
Speaking of his works Lord Jeffrey 
said, ' ' We have been exceedingly struck 
with the genius displayed and the spirit 
of poetry which breathes through all 
their extravagance." Keats was born 
October, 1795, and died in February, 
1 82 1, at the early age of 24. 

KIPLING, RUDYARD. 

Among the most recent authors of 
fiction and poetry the name of Kipling 
has become prominent. He was born 
in Calcutta in 1865, was sent to school 
in England, and having returned to 
India, became a journalist. He early 
showed a taste for poetry, and also be- 
came a writer of stories, the scenes of 
which were laid in .^ndia. Among the 
titles of his volumes are, " Plain Tales 
from the Hills," " Soldiers , Three," 
"TheGadsbys," "In Black and White," 
"Under the Deodars," "The Phantom 
Rickshaw," and " Wee Willie Winkie." 
His "Jubilee Hymn," written on the 
occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of 
Queen Victoria's coronation, is consid- 



ered the best of all his attempts in the 
line of poetry. Mr. Kipling came to 
this country and resided two years, 
where he became well known in literary 
circles and where he has found many 
appreciative readers of his works. His 
stories are 'mostly colored with the 
spirit of adventure, such as might be 
expected from a lover of the chase. 

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH. 

Our gifted poet whose works lend an 
unrivalled charm to American litera- 
ture, gained a world-wide distinction, 
and is equally honored at home and 
abroad. Wherever the English lan- 
guage is the common tongue Long- 
fellow is read and admired. Surpassed 
only by Moore in ease and elegance of 
rhythm, some of his productions have 
so touched the popular heart that they 
have become familiar in almost every 
household. His style is pure and sim- 
ple, his thought is clear and transparent, 
while there is an elevation of sentiment 
which captivates the most cultivated 
readers. The career of Longfellow began 
in early life, and was well sustained for 
a long period of time. He was born 
in Maine in 1807, was educated in 
Bowdoin College, was made Professor 
of Languages in that institution when 
he was but nineteen years old, and, 
leaving Bowdoin, accepted a professor- 
ship at Harvard. 

In 1839 appeared his romance o 
"Hyperion," and a collection of his 
poems, entitled "Voices of the Night," 
which attracted great attention and 
raised him at once to the first rank 
among American poets. In 1841 he 
published " Ballads and Other Poems ;" 
his charming drama of "The Spanish 
3tudent" appeared in 1843. 'I^his was 



574 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



followed by his "Poets and Poetry of 
Europe," (1S45). "The Belfry of 
Bruges, and Other Poems" (1846), and 
"Evangeline," (1847) one of the most 
admired of all his productions. It 
has been pronounced (and we think 
justly) "the most perfect specimen ex- 
tant of the rhythm and melody of the 
English hexameter." It was followed 
by "The Golden Legend" (1851), 
"The Song of Hiawatha" (1855), per- 
haps the most popular of all his works, 
"The Courtship of Miles Standish " 
(1858), " Flower de Luce" (1866), "New 
England Tragedies" (1868), "The 
Divine Tragedy" (1872) "Three Books 
of Song" (1873), "Aftermath" (1874), 
"The Hanging of the Crane" and 
"The Masque of Pandora" (1875). 

Longfellow resigned his chair at 
Harvard in 1854, and was succeeded by 
Lowell. In 1868-69 he traveled in 
Europe, and was everywhere received 
with marked attention, the degree of 
D.CL. being conferred on him by the 
Universities of both Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, England. Mr. Longfellow died 
at Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 
24, 1882. 

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL. 

Mr. Lowell's position as an author of 
both prose and poetry is too well known 
to need any comment. He has long 
been ranked with Longfellow, Holmes, 
Emerson and others, whose achieve- 
ments have given fame to American 
literature. While his versification is 
not so graceful or cultured as that of 
Longfellow, it exhibits a remarkable 
strength and force. A vein of humor 
runs through some of his prose writings 
as well as some of his poems, and this 
has added much to their popularity. 



Mr. Lowell came from a distinguished 
family, his father being a minister of 
the West Church in Boston. He was 
born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
February 22, 18 19, and in his sixteenth 
year graduated at Harvard College. 

He studied law, but never had any 
serious intention of making that his 
life pursuit. Perhaps no American 
writer has exhibited more versatility or 
has touched upon a wider range of sub- 
jects, adorning each with his graceful 
pen. In 1844 ^^ published a volume 
of poems which was followed by a 
second collection in 1848, and a small 
volume, separately, entitled, "The 
Vision of Sir Launfal." In the same 
year he also published his famous 
"Biglow Papers," a very witty and 
caustic satire in the Yankee dialect on 
the events of the Mexican War. 

Having spent a summer in Europe, 
he returned, and in the winter of 1854- 
55 delivered in Boston a very popular 
course of lectures on the British poets. 
About this time Mr. Longfellow re- 
signed the chair of modern languages 
at Harvard, and Mr. Lowell was at 
once appointed his successor. He be- 
came the editor of the "Atlantic 
Monthly" in 1857 and held this posi- 
tion for five years. 

Several volumes of poems were issued 
subsequent to this time and he also 
published several volumes of his prose 
writings, entitled, ' ' Among My Books" 
and " My Study Windows.' ' In 1 877 he 
was appointed United States Minister 
to Spain, and from 1879 until his re- 
moval by President Cleveland, in 1885, 
he was minister to England. In 1883 
he was chosen lord rector of St. An- 
drew's University, and while in Eng- 
land he received the degree of LL-D 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



575 



from tile Universities of Oxford, Cam- 
bridge and Edinburgh. Died August 
12, 1891. 

LYTTON, ROBERT BULWER. 

This English poet was the son of 
Lord L-ytton, the well known novelist. 
He was born in 1831, and was educated 
in England and Germany. 

Under the pseudonym of "Owen 
Meredith " he published a number of 
volumes of verse and prose works, in- 
cluding the "Life and Letters" of his 
father. The work by which he is best 
known is "Lucile, " a romance in verse, 
which, since its publication in i860, 
has passed through many editions and 
has had a multitude of readers. He 
found time during his public duties to 
engage in literary work for which he 
had a decided preference. His poems 
are graceful and abound in fine descrip- 
tive passages. His death occurred in 
1895. 

MACAULAY, LORD. 

A great name in modern English 
literature, and one that is likely to sur- 
vive for generations to come. In com- 
manding ability, in keen historic in- 
sight, in poetical talent, and in the 
skillful use of the English language, he 
has few, if any, superiors. His works 
are classics, and have secured the atten- 
tion of the most scholarly readers. He 
distinguished himself in Parliament by 
his brilliant orations, and also became 
widely known by his contributions to 
the "Edinburgh Review," which placed 
him head and shoulders above all other 
contributors to that famous journal. 

Lord Macaulay was born in Leices- 
tershire, October 25, 1800, and was 
educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, 
where he won a medal for English 



verse, obtained a prize for Latin decla- 
mation, gained a scholarship and in 
1824 was elected to a Fellowship. In 
1826 he was called to the bar, but made 
no attempt to secure a practice, his tastes 
inclining him to politics and literary 
pursuits. His poems, most of which 
commemorate historic events, exhibit 
in a high degree the art of word paint- 
ing, and are full ot virile energy. 

His best known work is his "History 
of England," which shows great re- 
search and is written in the most at- 
tractive style. He was devoted to his 
family who were in humble circum- 
stances, and was a most affectionate son 
and brother. He died in 1859 ^^^ was 
buried in Westminster Abbey. 

MOORE, THOyWAS. 

"The Bard of Erin" was born in 
Dublin, May 28, 1779, and was the son 
of a Catholic grocer. He was sent to 
the same school where Sheridan was 
educated and where he himself became 
"a determined rhymer." After study- 
ing at Trinity College, he went to Lon- 
don and in 1800 published a transla- 
tion of "Anacreon.^" which he dedi- 
cated to the Prince of Wales, his patron 
then, but the butt of his satire after- 
ward. It proved a great hit, and, with 
his musical talent, opened his way into 
the best society. 

He published "Odes and Epistles" 
in 1806, and from 1807 to 1834 produced 
his popular "Irish Melodies," which 
have given him a place among the first 
English poets and superior to any other 
in his native land. His most elaborate 
work is "Lalla Rookli," for which he 
received $15,000. This poem has been 
one of the most popular written by any 
modern author. Various other works 



576 



C^L^BRATED AUTHORS. 



in prose and poetry were well received. 
His best |)roductions, however, are his 
lyrics, love songs breathing the most 
ardent passion, many of which are 
familiar to the general public. As a 
graceful versifier and writer of poetry 
which has the ring of perpetual music 
in it, Moore is unexcelled. He was a 
great social favorite, enjoying the friend- 
ship of Byron and other celebrities. 
His death occurred in 1832. 

PAYNE, JOHN HOWARD. 

Author of "Home, Sweet Home," 
which was written while he was United 
States Consul at Tunis, where he died 
in 1852. He was born in New York in 
1792, and in early life was an actor in 
American cities and in London. His 
remains now repose at Washington, 
D. C, where a splendid monument, the 
gift of Mr. Corcoran, the banker, has 
been erected to the memory of the 
author of our sweetest American song. 

POE, EDGAR ALLEN. 

An American poet whose most cele- 
brated poem, " The Raven," holds first 
rank in our poetical literature. Poe's 
genius is universally acknowledged. 
His writings bear in every line the 
stamp of originality ; his conceptions 
are unique, and his style of versification 
is peculiarly his own. He was of nerv- 
ous temperament, unfortunate in some 
of his habits, the victim of adversity, 
and his life has been the subject of 
much criticism, while his works have 
been universally admired. 

He graduated at the University of 
Virginia in 1826, and in the next fe\v 
years was editor of several magazines 
that were popular in their day. Among 
his prose works, "The Gold Bug" 
is well known, but his poems have 



gained the wider circle of readers and 
admirers. "The Raven," already men- 
tioned, and "The Bells" have made 
their author noted. Born in Boston, 
Mass., in 181 1, and died in Baltimore, 
Md., in 1849, of delirium tremens. 

PULITZER, JOSEPH. 

This very successful journalist was 
born in Hungary in the latter part of 
1847. Coming to this country during 
the Civil War, he enlisted in a German 
Cavalry regiment served until peace 
was declared and was honorably mus- 
tered out of service. He turned his 
attention to journalism, showed con- 
spicuous ability as a writer, and also 
obtained an interest successively in 
several newspapers. 

In 1883 he bought the "New York 
World," and gave it a phenomenal suc- 
cess. From a circulation of a few 
thousand copies daily, the circulation 
went wp toward half a million. The 
energy and ability displayed by the 
proprietor and manager paused much 
comment, and marked him as one of 
the greatest journalists of the age. He 
was elected as a Democrat to the Forty- 
ninth Congress to represent the North 
District of New York, but resigned his 
seat on account of private business and 
professional duties. 

READ, THOMAS BUCHANAN. 

He distinguished himself as a poet 
and artist, and his productions have 
always been regarded as among the best 
in the art and literature of America. 
The lyric entitled "Sheridan's Ride," 
commemorating one of the exploits of 
the great cavalry General, has had a 
more general reading than anything of 
the kind ever published in this coun- 



CELEBRATED AUTH0113. 



577 



try. The author excelled in this style 
of poetry. His genius is unquestioned. 
The poem entitled " The Closing Scene/ 
is said by the "Westminster Review" 
to be the finest written in the present 
generation. 

His best known work as an artist is 
hfs group of " Longfellow's Children." 
Mr. Read always had the happy faculty 
of treating subjects of immediate in- 
terest in such a way as to gain wide 
attention from the reading public. Mr. 
Read was born at Chester, Pennsylvania, 
in 1822, and died in 1872. 

RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB. 

" The Hoosier Poet of America," was 
born in Greenfield, Indiana, in 1852. 
Over an assumed name he began to 
contribute verses in the Hoosier dialect 
to the Indianapolis papers in about 1875, 
which attracted considerable attention. 
Since then his productions have been 
widely read. They are characterized 
by a rich vein of humor, as well as 
pathos, and their setting in dialect 
gives them additional charm and in- 
terest. 

RUSKIN, JOHN. 

The distinguished prose author and 
critic, whose masterly works have made 
a place for themselves in the literature 
of our day, was born in London, Eng- 
land, in 1 8 19. His writings on art, in- 
cluding "Modern Painters," "The 
Seven Lamps of Architecture," and 
"Stones of Venice," are brilliant in 
thought and exceedingly forcible in 
style. Ruskin in his writings compels 
attention. There is something striking 
in every paragraph. His thought is of 
the highest order, his words ring like 
blows on an anvil, and his marshalled 
37 



sentences are like battalions charging 
in battle. 

He publis'ned nearly thirty works, 
mainly on art and architecture, and 
maintained his supremacy in this field 
of literature to the last. He also con- 
tributed largely to contemporaneous 
literature. He was elected Professor of 
Fine Arts at Oxford, 1869, and received 
the degree of LL. D. from the University 
of Cambridge in 1871. Died in 1899- 

SAXE, JOHN GODFREY. 

He excelled especially as a humor- 
ous poet, and many of his pieces have 
become familiar to the reading public. 
When he began to write he struck out 
into a new field and his venture was 
most successful. Mr. Saxe was born in 
Franklin County, Vermont, in 18 16. 
He graduated from Middlebury College, 
Vermont, in 1839, and subsequently 
became editor of the " Burlington Sen- 
tinel." He was elected State's attor- 
ney in 185 I. A collection of his poems 
appeared in 1849. They rank among 
the most successful productions of their 
kind, and have obtained extensive popu- 
larity. A new edition of his collected 
poems was published in 1864. He pro- 
duced in 1866 " The Masquerade, and 
Other Poems," and "Leisure Day 
Rhymes" in 1875. Died March 31, 1887. 

SCOTT, SIR WALTER. 

The very name of Sir Walter Scott 
strikes a responsive chord in almost 
every breast, for few are the persons 
who have not been charmed and de- 
lighted with the "Waverly Novels" 
and his sprightly, spirited poems. His 
name is the chief ornament of Scottish 
literature, and such is the character of 
his works that they can perish only 



578 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



with the languagfcr. in accuracy of his- 
toric description, in throwing over his 
writings an air of charming romance, 
in skillful weaving of the plot, and in 
photographing the various characters 
so that the reader almost imagines he 
;ees them before his eyes, Scott may be 
said to be without a rival. His works 
have had a phenomenal popularity. 

He was born in Edinburgh, 1771. Of 
delicate health in early life, he slowly 
advanced to a sturdy manhood, and be- 
came distinguished as an author at a 
period comparatively late. Perhaps no 
other author wrote so much when past 
the age of fifty-five. It is honorable to 
the memory of Scott that a large amount 
of his literary work was undertaken and 
carried forward for the purpose of meet- 
ing a pecuniary obligation. " Waverly " 
took the world by storm, and Scott who 
did not acknowledge the authorship, 
might well suppose he had found the 
pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

As a writer it is a truism to say that, 
since Shakespeare, whom he resembled 
in many ways, there has never been a 
genius so human and so creative, so 
rich in humor, sympathy, poetry, so 
fertile in the production of new and 
real characters, as the genius of Walter 
Scott. "The Lay of the Last Min- 
strel," and "The Lady of the Lake," 
hold high rank in the realm of poetry 
and are full of life and spirit. They 
are colored by the romance of Scottish 
history and Scottish scenery. For a 
long time Scott resided at Abbotsford, 
a few miles from Edinburgh, which was 
one of the famous places to visit by all 
tourists in Scotland. He died in 1832. 

SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE. 

Shelley was a brilliant light in the 



literary firmament, and although des- 
tined soon to set, the beam? of his glow- 
ing genius still linger and e> cite admi- 
ration akin to wonder. Leigh Hunt 
says concerning his "Ode to a Sky- 
lark," "a little song yet it fills all 
heaven." Few men ever possessed the 
poetic gift in a higher degree. 

Shelley was born in Sussex county, 
England, in August, 1792, and lost his 
life by drowning at Leghorn, Italy, in 
July, 1822 ; yet this youth whose career 
was cut off at the early age of thirty 
left an imperishable name in the world 
of letters. His poetry was inspired by 
an ardent passion for truth and an 
ardent love of humanity. 

Shelley's most celebrated productions 
are "Queen Mab," "The Revolt of 
Islam," "Rosalind and Helen," "Pro- 
metheus Unbound," and " Adonais." 
Of Shelley it might have been said, as 
of his own skylark : 

" And sing still dost soar, 
And soaring ever singeth. 

STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS. 

This Scotch author was born in Edin- 
burgh in 1850. He was bred an engi- 
neer, but studied law. In 1879 became 
to the United States and married, after- 
ward going to reside for a time in France. 
His contributions to periodicals began 
to attract attention, and soon he became 
widely known as a writer of more than 
ordinary ability. 

Among his works are "An Inland 
Voyage," "Travels with a Donkey," 
" Familiar Studies on Men and Books," 
"New Arabian Nights," "The Dyn- 
amiter," etc. Mr. Stevenson's best 
known work is "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. 
Hyde," which has been dramatized and 
has met with popular favor. The gifted 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



579 



author weut to California in pursuit of 
health, being addicted to pulmonary 
complaint, and died in the Island of 
Samoa in 1896. 

STOWE, HARRIET BEECHER. 

This distinguished American author 
was born at Litchfield, Conn., on the 
14th of June, 18 12. She was the third 
daughter and sixth child of the cele- 
brated Dr. Lyman Beecher. In early 
life she exhibited literary taste and 
gained distinction as a graceful writer. 

In 1836, she was married to Professor 
Calvin E. Stowe. In 1850 she went to 
Brunswick, Maine, where her husband 
had been appointed professor of Bow- 
doin College. While here she wrote 
her novel, " Uncle Tom's Cabin," and 
furnished it to the "National Era'' 
(published at Washington) in weekly 
contributions. The success of this 
work has been without a parallel in the 
history of literature, its sale having 
gone up into the millions here and in 
Europe, where it has been translated 
into a number of difierent languages. 
When this remarkable story appeared 
the public mind in America was much 
agitated, and there can be no doubt 
that Mrs. Stowe's work hastened the 
great crisis that resulted in the Civil 
War and the destruction of the institu- 
tion of slavery. 

Mrs. Stowe was the author of other 
works that had great popularity, in- 
cluding " Sunny Memories of Foreign 
Lands," " Dred, a Tale of the Dismal 
Swamp," "The Minister's Wooing," 
" Oldtown Folks," etc. She wrote the 
"True Story of Lord Byron's Life," 
published in this country and in Eng- 
land. This work was severely criticised 
and brought down upon the devoted 



head of the authoress a storm of indig- 
nation. Mrs. Stowe has written other 
works of great merit, and it may safely 
be said that no authoress of modern 
times in any country has achieved a 
greater success. She died July ist, 
1896. 

SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES. 

This English poet was born in 1837, 
and studied at Oxford, which he quitted 
without a degree. He burst upon the 
reading public with several poetical 
dramas, which, between 1861 and 1865, 
established his reputation as a poet of 
extraordinary brilliancy and even auda- 
city. Subsequently he published "Poems 
and Ballads," together with other works 
which fully sustained his reputation. 
He delights in the weird, the mystical, 
the very suggestive, and has sometimes 
been criticised for the latitude of his 
opinions. His genius, however, is un- 
disputed. 

TAYLOR, BAYARD. 

The works of this author have adorned 
our American literature and have been 
most favorably received by the reading 
public. Both as a poet and a traveller 
narrating his experiences in the differ- 
ent parts of the globe, he gained dis- 
tinction. He was at one time an editor 
on the " New York Tribune," to.which 
he contributed a series of letters' descrip- 
tive of his European travels. A num- 
ber of volumes issued from his pen, 'and 
subsequently he was appointed Ameri- 
can Minister to Germany. He died at 
Berlin in December, 1878. 

TENNYSON, ALFRED. 

For many years Lord Tennyson was 
without a living peer as a poet. It has 
been even said that no writer since the 
days of Shakespeare has exhibited such 



580 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



wonderful power of clothing poetic 
thought in captivating language. His 
poems are nothing less than creations, 
many of them sublime beyond compari- 
son, and exhibiting the severest culture 
and most painstaking effort. 

Tennyson was born in 1809 and was 
educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, 
where, in 1829, he obtained a prize 
medal for a poem in blank verse on 
" Timbuctoo." Soon after he published 
"The Lady of Shalott," "The May 
Queen," "The Lotus-Eaters,'' "ADream 
of Fair Women," etc., etc. In 1849 he 
issued anonymously "In Memoriam," 
which many persons consider the finest 
of all his productions. Many of its 
remarkable couplets and stanzas have 
passed into the common speech of our 
time, and have become favorites of 
thoughtful persons and even of those 
religiously inclined. 

Tennyson's fame grew through all his 
long life, and it is noteworthy that each 
new production appeared to increase his 
reputation and give him a stronger hold 
upon the affections of the reading pub- 
lic. More abrupt, more vigorous in 
thought, more rugged and massive as a 
poet than Longfellow, his versification 
was yet easy and graceful, although 
inferior in this respect to that of our own 
great poet, just mentioned, whose name 
is a household word everywhere. Ten- 
nyson died October 6th, 1892. 

THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE. 

A popular English novelist nnd hum- 
orist, born in Calcutta, in 181 1. He 
was educated at the University of Cam- 
bridge, which he left without taking a 
degree. Having inherited from his 
father a considerable fortune, and not 
being compelled to labor for his own 



livelihood, he chose the profession of 
an artist, but soon turned his attention 
to literature. 

For many years he was a contributoi 
to " Punch," and other periodicals, and 
gained great popularity. His works of 
fiction rivalled those of Dickens in 
popular favor, which is praise enough 
to be bestowed on any writer. One of 
his best and most popular works is 
"Vanity Fair, a Novel Without a 
Hero" ; another is entitled " Penden- 
nis." He visited the United States in 
1852 and was very popular as a lecturer 
in all parts of the Union. Returning to 
England, he wrote the "Virginians," 
which is considered one of his best 
works of fiction. He died in Decem- 
ber, 1863, leaving several daughters, 
some of whom have inherited theii 
father's literary tastes and abilities. 

MARK TWAIN (S. L. Clemens). 

Under the noni de phime of Mark 
Twain an author appeared about 1867, 
whose quaint humor attracted immedi- 
ate attention and soon gained a large 
circle of readers. There was a flavor 
of the western prairies about his pro- 
ductions and such odd conceits as 
marked him at once as a humorist of 
the first order. 

Probably his best known work is 
" Innocents Abroad," which gave him 
considerable reputation. This was fol- 
lowed by "Roughing It," "Tom Saw- 
yer," "Huckleberry F'inn," and othei 
volumes, all of which have been well 
received by all classes of readers. His 
ability in his chosen field is unsurpassed. 
He was a member of the firm that pub- 
lished the Personal Memoirs of Presi- 
dent Grant. Mr. Clemens was born in 
Missouri in 1835. 



CELEBRATED AUTHORS. 



581 



WARNER, CHARLES DUDLEY. 

One of our most popular American 
authors, born in Massachusetts in 1829, 
and educated at Hamilton College, New 
York. He studied law, and in 1857 was 
admitted to the Philadelphia Bar, but 
afterwards became a journalist at Hart- 
ford, Conn. "My Summer in a Gar- 
den," "Back-Log Studies," " My Win- 
ter on the Nile," and " Being a Boy," 
are among his best known works. In 
connection with Mark Twain he pro- 
duced "The Gilded Age," a novel and 
play. He also compiled a valuable 
library of English literature, published 
in upward of forty volumes. His writ- 
ings have a genuine humor and abound 
in graphic descriptions. 



WHITTIER, JOHN QREENLEAF. 

"The Quaker Poet." His writings 
are models of spiritual, benevolent, and 
patriotic sentiment. Having a warm 
sympathy with the poor and oppressed, 
he has employed his graceful pen with 
fine effect in the cause of humanity, and 
no author of our time is more beloved. 
Born at Haverhill, Mass., 1 807; died 1 892. 
WILLIS, NATHANIEL PARKER. 

A poet of distinction, whose "Sacred 
Poems" especially, have had a large 
circle of admirers. His versification is 
easy, and his descriptions abound in 
word painting of a high order. Willis 
was also successful as a journalist, and 
a favorite in general society. Born in 
Portland, Maine, 1807 ; died in 1867. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



(3The 



Distinguished Orators and Statesmen. 



HB Nineteenth Century has produced many of the most eifective and cele- 

* I brated orators known to history. While the preceding century was 

adorned by great English orators and statesmen, of whom Pitt and Burke 

are examples, it must be admitted by every impartial observer that a marvellous 

galaxy of brilliant men shine out in the last hundred years in peerless splendor. 



BEECHER, HENRY WARD. 

Few public men during the century 
achieved greater distinction than this 
gifted writer and pulpit orator, of whom 
it has been said "he was a grand out- 
growth of American institutions." 

He was a son of Dr. Lyman Beeclier 
and was born in lyitchfield. Conn., on 
the 4th of June, 18 13. He appears to 
have given in childhood but little pro- 
mise of distinction. But even while a 
boy he proved that he inherited some- 
thing of the controversial ability of his 
father. A forward schoolboy among 
the elder scholars had got hold of Paine's 
" Age of Reason," and was flourishing 
largely among the boys with objections 
to the Bible. Henry privately looked 
up Watson's "Apology," studied up 
the subject, and challenged a debate 
with the big boy, m which he came off 
victorious by the acclamation of his 
schoolfellows. This occurred when he 
was about eleven years old. 

He manifested at this period little 
inclination for severe study, but had 
conceived a passionate desire to go to 
sea. His father adroitly used this de- 
sire to induce him to commence a course 
of mathematics with a view to qualify 
himself to become a naval officer. He 
applied himself energetically to his new 
582 



studies, "with his face to the navy, 
and Nelson as his beau ideal.'" But 
not long afterwards there occurred in 
that section of the country a religious 
"revival," and young Beeclier, with 
many others, was powerfully impressed. 
The result was that the naval scheme 
was abandoned, and his thoughts were 
directed to the pulpit as his natural and 
proper sphere. 

After going through the preparatory 
studies, he entered Amherst College, 
where he graduated in 1834 ; and soon 
after he commenced the study of 
theology at Lane Seminary, under the 
direction of his father. He began his 
ministerial course at Lawrenceburg, 
Indiana, but removed soon after to 
Indianapolis. In 1847 he became pas- 
tor of Plymouth Church (Congrega- 
tional) in Brooklyn, where he gathered 
around him an immense congregation. 
He was also one of the most popular 
writers and most successful lecturers in 
America. His success as a public 
speaker was due not so much to what 
is popularly termed eloquence as to a 
flow of racy and original thought, 
which, though often enlivened with 
flashes of quaint humor, was not with- 
out an undercurrent of deep moral and 
spiritual earnestness. 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



58S 



BLAINE» JAMES GILLESPIE. 

Mr. Blaine was born of Scotch-Irish 
parentage at West Brownsville, Pa., 
January 31, 1830. As a boy at school 
he excelled in literature and mathe- 
matics, and at the early age of thirteen 
entered Washington College in his 
native county, graduating in 1 847. Sub- 
sequently he became a teacher in the 
military institute at Blue Lick Springs, 
Ky., where he married Miss Harriet 
Stanhope, a teacher in a neighboring 
seminary. Soon after his marriage he 
removed to Pennsylvania, and after 
studying law for a short time became a 
teacher in the Institution for the Blind 
at Philadelphia. In 1854 he removed 
to Augusta, Me., entering the journal- 
istic ranks, first as editor of the " Ken- 
nebec Journal," and later as editor of 
the "Portland Advertiser." 

In 1862 the Republicans elected him 
to the House of Representatives, and 
for 20 years he served in one or the 
other of the two Houses of Congress. 
During the war he favored all judicious 
and practical resolutions for its vigor- 
ous prosecution, and at its close he bore 
an active part in the reconstruction 
measures of the country. The 14th 
Constitutional Amendment was called 
the "Blaine Amendment," as it was for- 
mulated and earnestly advocated by him. 
He was largely instrumental in the ne- 
gotiation of a treaty with England, in 
which the doctrine of perpetual alle- 
giance was abandoned, and Great Bri- 
tain accepted the American principle 
of equal rights and protection for 
adopted as weV as for native citizens. 
From 1869 to 1875 Mr. Blaine was 
speaker of the House of Representatives, 
and his record in this capacity is gener- 
ally conceded to have been a brilliant one. 



In 1876 Mr. Blaine was elected to the 
United States Senate, and at once be- 
came a most prominent and efficient 
member of that body. In the Republi- 
can national convention of that year he 
was a prominent candidate for nomina- 
tion to the presidency of the United 
States, and lacked only 28 votes out of 
a total of 754 of receiving the nomina- 
tion. At the Republican national con- 
vention in 1880 his friends again pre- 
sented his name for nomination, and on 
the first ballot the vote stood : Grant, 
304 ; Blaine, 284 ; Sherman, 93 ; Ed- 
munds, 34; Washburn, 30; Windom, 
10; Garfield, i. On the election of 
Mr. Garfield, Mr. Blaine accepted the 
appointment of Secretary of State, fill- 
ing the office with rare ability and suc- 
cess, until the death of the president, 
when he retired from active public 
work, and began to write his famous 
historical work, entitled, "Twenty 
Years of Congress." 

In 1884 Mr. Blaine received the Re- 
publican nomination for President, but 
after a vigorous contest, failing to secure 
the electoral vote of the State of New 
York by the narrow margin of 1,047 
votes out of a total of over 1,200,000, 
he was defeated in the general election. 
He spent the ensuing four years at work 
on his book and in foreign travel. 

At the time of the nominating con- 
vention in 1888, Mr. Blaine was in 
Europe, and by formal letter declined 
to permit his friends to present his name 
as a candidate for the presidency. He 
returned, however, in time to aid effi- 
ciently in the canvass for Mr. Harrison, 
and on the election of the latter again 
accepted the appointment as Secretary 
of State. Among the important ser- 
vices rendered in this office he took a 



584 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



leading part in settling the Samoan 
difficulties in the treaty between Ger- 
many, England and the United States, 
and successfully invited and most effi- 
ciently presided over the Pan-American 
j Congress held in Washington. In June, 
1892, Mr. Blaine resigned his office to 
become a candidate for the Republican 
Presidential nomination, but failed to 
receive it. He died in 1893. 

BRIGHT, JOHN. 

For many years Mr. Bright was ac- 
corded the great honor in England of 
being " the tribune of the people," de- 
fending them by his peerless eloquence, 
his untiring efforts and commanding 
abilities, from unlawful oppression, 
and advocating just and equal rights 
for all citizens. He was a power in 
Parliament and the nation. , 

He was born in 181 1, and was edu- 
cated at a FrienJls* school, his family 
being members of that sect. He early 
enlisted in the Anti-Corn-Law League, 
and was elected to Parliament for the 
city of Durham in 1843. He remained 
in Parliament many years, exercising 
great influence by his sturdy honesty, 
his liberal opinions and impassioned 
eloquence. As a consistent friend of 
liberty and equal rights, he testified his 
sympathy for the Federal Government 
during our Civil War by a number of 
public speeches that attracted much 
attention. 

Mr. Bright was an ardent advocate of 
the Reform bill, granting the right of 
suffrage to every householder in a bor- 
ough, which was signed by Queen Vic- 
toria on the 15 th of August, 1867. In 
March, 1868, he made a powerful ad- 
dress on Ireland, of which the lyondon 
"Spectator" said : "Mr. Bnght's grand 



speech did more to draw the noblest 
men of all parties nearer to each other 
than long years of discussion had ef- 
fected before." 

He declined the office of Secretary 
for India, which was offered him, but 
entered the cabinet of Mr. Gladstone as 
President of the Board of Trade in 1 868, 
from which he was compelled by ill 
health to retire in 1870. Died March 
27, 1889. 

BROOKS, PHILLIPS. 

This eminent American clergyman 
was born in Boston, December 13, 1835. 
He graduated at Harvard College in 
1855, and studied at the divinity school 
near Alexandria, Virginia, and was or- 
dained in 1859. From this year until 
1869 he held Episcopal rectorships in 
Philadelphia. 

Mr. Brooks was a man of most impos- 
ing presence, possessed of rare scholar- 
ship and eloquence, and attracted marked 
attention from the beginning of his 
public ministry. His discourses were 
profound in thought, elevated in spirit- 
ual sentiment, abounded in gems of 
rare beauty, and deeply impressed the 
cultivated audience that listened to 
them. Having been called to a rector- 
ship in Boston, his fame increased, and 
a short time before his death, which 
occurred in January, 1893, he was ele- 
vated to the house of Episcopal Bishops. 

CHOATE, RUFUS. 

A scholarly American lawyer, born 
in Essex, Massachusetts, October ist, 
1799, graduated at Dartmouth in 18 19, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1823. 
He sat in Congress from 1830 to 1834, 
when he settled in Boston. Here his 
singular eloquence rapidly advanced 
h'.w to the place gf leader gf the Massa- 



ORATORS AND STATESMAN. 



585 



chusetts bar ; indeed, it has been claimed 
for him that he was the most eminent 
advocate New England, or even Amer- 
ica, has produced. After a term in the 
United States Senate, 1841-45, he re- 
turned to his profession ; in 1859, his 
health giving way, he sailed for Europe, 
but stopped at Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
where he died July 13. His writings, 
with a memoir, were published at 
Boston in 1862. 

CLAY, HENRY, 

When reference is made to America's 
greatest orators it is customary to men- 
tion the name of Henry Clay among 
the very first. He was frequently called, 
"The Mill Boy of the Slashes," from 
the fact that he was a poor boy and 
was born in a district in Virginia called 
" the Slashes." The date of his birth 
was April 12th, 1777, and he died at 
Washington, June, 1852. 

He served successively in the Ken- 
tucky Legislature, State Senate, United 
States House of Representatives and 
Senate ; and was one of four candidates 
for president in 1824, and also a candi- 
date in 1844, being defeated both times. 

In person, Mr. Clay was tall and 
slender, had a voice of wonderful range 
and sympathy, was remarkably easy 
and graceful in manner, and few orators 
who ever lived possessed such persua- 
ive power. " Take him for all in all," 
says Parton, "we must regard him as 
the first of American orators ; but pos- 
terity will not assign him that rank, 
because posterity will not hear that 
matchless voice, will not see those large 
gestures, those striking attitudes, that 
grand manner, which gave to second- 
rate composition first-rate effect. His 
'T^eeches will long be interesting as the 



relics of a magnificent and dazzling 
personality, and for the light they cast 
upon the history of parties. ' ' 

DEPEW, CHAUNCEY M. 

This distinguished citizen, prominent 
in railroad affairs and politics, was born 
in Peekskill, N. Y., in 1834, and grad- 
uated from Yale College in 1856. Asa 
young man Mr. Depew came into notice 
as an effective stump-speaker and an 
orator who could adapt himself to al- 
most any public occasion. Genial in 
disposition, with an unlimited fund of 
anecdote and remarkable fluency of 
speech, he has become widely known 
and universally popular. 

In 1 86 1 he was a member of the Legis- 
lature of New York, and two years later 
was elected Secretary of State, sub- 
sequently holding the position of Presi- 
dent of the " Vanderbilt Roads." His 
writings consist of addresses and ora- 
tions delivered on various occasions all 
of which are finished productions and 
place their author among the foremost 
orators of America. Mr. Depew has al- 
ways taken an active interest in poli- 
tics. His services are sought in every 
Presidential campaign and what he has 
to say commands wide attention. He 
was elected to the United States Senate 
from New York in 1899, and took his 
seat on December 4th of that year. 

DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. 

This American orator was born in 
Maryland in 18 17, his father being a 
white man and his mother a negro 
slave. Permitted to work in a ship- 
yard in Baltimore, he escaped in 1838 
to New York and thence to New Bed- 
ford, Massachusetts, where his negro 
employer, who had just read Scott's 



586 



ORAT€RS AND STATESMEN. 



" I/ady of the Lake," induced him to 
substitute Douglass for the name of 
Bailey, conferred on him by his mother. 

In 1 84 1 he attended an Anti-slavery 
Convention at Nantucket, and spoke so 
eloquently on the subject of slavery that 
he was employed as agent of the Massa- 
chusetts Anti-slavery Society, and lec- 
tured for four years with great success. 
In 1845 he commenced a lecturing tour 
in Great Britain, where a contribution 
of seven hundred and fifty dollars was 
made to buy his freedom. Returning 
to America he established in 1847, at 
Rochester, New York, "Frederick 
Douglass' Paper," a weekly abolition 
newspaper. 

Mr. Douglass was appointed to a 
number of Federal offices at Washing- 
ton, which he filled with credit to him- 
self and satisfaction to the several ad- 
ministrations that selected him for the 
various positions in which he was 
placed. In person he was tall, well 
proportioned, had a rich, mellow voice, 
good command of language, and at 
times in his public efforts rose to the 
highest order of eloquence. 

EVERETT, EDWARD. 

He was born at Dorchester, Massa- 
chusetts, April nth, 1764, and gradu- 
<ated at Harvard in 181 1. At the age of 
nineteen he had already gained a high 
reputation as a Unitarian preacher in 
Boston. In 18 15 he was elected pro- 
fessor of Greek in Harvard College ; 
and to qualify himself more thoroughly 
for his work he visited Europe, where 
he resided for four years, and had a dis- 
tinguished circle of acquaintance. Vic- 
tor Cousin pronounced him "one of 
the best Grecians he ever knew." In 
1820 Everett became editor of the 



"North American Review,'* and in 
1824 a member of Congress, sitting in 
the House of Representatives for ten 
yeans. In 1835-38 he was four times 
elected governor of Massachusetts ; and 
in 1841-45 he was minister plenipoten- 
tiary at the court of St. James. While 
in England he received the degree of 
D.C.D. from Oxford, and LL.D. from 
Cambridge and Dublin. 

On his return to America he was 
elected president of Harvard College ; 
on the decease of Daniel Webster he 
became Secretary of State ; and in 1853 
he was returned to the United States 
Senate. In i860 he was nominated by 
the Constitutional Union party for the 
vice-presidency of the United States, 
receiving 39 electorial votes out of 303. 
He died January 15, 1865. Everett's 
principal works are "A Defence of 
Christianity " ( 1 8 14); several fine poems ; 
and his eloquent "Orations and 
Speeches" (4 vols., 1836-59), covering 
a wide range of subjects, and indicating 
a varied, vigorous and flexible genius. 
His Memxoir of Daniel Webster is pre- 
fixed to the collective edition of his 
friend's works (6 vols., Boston, 1852,) 

QAMBETTA, LEON. 

A French advocate, statesman and 
renowned orator, born at Cahors, 1838, 
of Genoese extraction. He early dis- 
tinguished himself at the bar by his 
facile address, and, entering into the 
political arena, became one of the leaders 
of the advanced Republican party. 
Elected a member of the Corps Legis 
latif in 1869, Gambetta, on the fall ot 
the empire, September 4, 1870, became 
a member of the Government of Na- 
tional Defence ; distinguished himself 
by his energy, and on Paris being be- 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



587 



sieged .by the German armies, did not 
hesitate to depart from that city by 
means of a balloon, in order to get to 
Bordeaux, from where, for some months, 
he exercised almost dictatorial power, 
continuing the war with perhaps more 
patriotism than prudence. 

On the election of M. Thiers as Presi- 
dent of the French Republic, he again 
resumed his place in the National As- 
sembly, in the deliberations of which 
he continued to take an active part. In 
1879, he succeeded M. Grevy as Presi- 
dent of the Chamber of Deputies, and 
in 1 88 1 was made Premier, a position 
he held but a short time, owing to dis- 
agreement with the Chamber on politi- 
cal questions. He died in 1883. 

GARFIELD, JAMES A. 

The twentieth President of the United 
States, was born in Cuyahoga County, 
Ohio, November 19, 1831, graduated 
from Williams College, Mass., in 1856, 
and adopted the profession of law. In 
1856-60 he was a member of the Ohio 
Senate, and in 1861 entered the army 
as Colonel of the 42d Ohio Volunteers, 
and was made Brigadier-General in 
1862. In 1863 was appointed Chief of 
Staff to General Rosecrans, and served 
with him up to the battle of Chicka- 
mauga ; for gallantry in this action he 
was promoted to Major-General of the 
Volunteers (September 19, 1863). 

He resigned from the army to take 
his seat in the 38th Congress from Ohio, 
and was placed on the Committee of 
Military affairs. He continued to serve 
in Congress upon the most important 
committees and as Chairman of the 
Committee on Military Affairs, and also 
as Regent of the Smithsonian Institute. 
In 1880 he was elected Senator from 



Ohio, and at Chicago, on June 8, 1880, 
selected as the nominee of the Republi- 
can party for President of the United 
States. On the 35 th ballot, the vote 
stood. Grant, 313 ; Blaine, 257; Sher- 
man, 10 1 ; Garfield, 50, besides other 
scattering votes. On the 36th ballot, 
the vote counted 309 for Garfield, which 
gave him the nomination. He was 
elected by 219 votes in the Electoral 
College against 150 for Hancock. 

He died at Ivong Branch, N. J., Sep- 
tember, 19, 1 88 1, from bullet wounds 
inflicted in Washington, D. C, by an 
assassin, July 2, 1881, and was buried 
at Cleveland, Ohio, amid the lamenta- 
tions of the whole civilized world. Mr. 
Garfield was born to command. He 
was a giant in intellect, an impressive 
orator, a true-hearted man and an orna- 
ment to his country, to the highest 
position in the gift of which, he rose 
from a poor canal driver in his boyhood. 

GIBBONS, CARDINAL. 

This distinguished prelate of the 
Papal Church was born in Baltimore 
in 1834, and baptized in the Venera- 
ble Cathedral of that city, in the very 
diocese of which he afterward became 
archbishop. At the age of ten he was 
taken by his father to Ireland, where 
he began preparatory studies with a 
view to the priesthood. His brilliant 
talents marked him from the outset for 
a distinguished position in his calling. 

Step by step he rose to fame and 
influence, and was especially successful 
in gaining the confidence of his super- 
iors, who looked upon him not only ns 
a brilliant scholar and orator, but also 
as a wise and faithful counsellor. On 
June 30th, 1886, he was elevated to the 
position of Cardinal on the 25th anni- 



688 



ORATORS AND STATESMAN. 



versary of his ordination to the priest- 
hood. Although raised to so high a 
rank, Cardinal Gibbons has always 
maintained a quiet, unassuming deport- 
ment, and has greatly endeared himself 
to the myriads of his flock in America. 
Wise, generous, learned, the author of 
that noted book, "The Faith of our 
Fathers," which stands as the American 
apology for Catholicity in the nine- 
teenth century. Cardinal Gibbons is in 
every way fitted to fill the position at 
rthe head of the hierarchy in the United 
States. He has always been loyal and 
devoted to those great principles of truth 
and freedom which ensure the welfare 
of the state and of the people at large. 

GLADSTONE, WILLIAM EWART. 

Mr. Gladstone may be called the most 
eminent English statesman, orator, and 
author of the nineteenth century. He 
was born in Liverpool in December, 
1809, and graduated at Oxford in 1831, 
having gained the highest distinction 
in classics and mathematics. He was 
elected to Parliament by the Conserva- 
tives in 1832, and appointed a lord of 
the treasury by Sir Robert Peel in 
December, 1834. 

From this time on Mr. Gladstone 
advanced steadily from one position to 
another until he was chosen to the very 
responsible ofhce of chancellor of the 
Exchequer in the cabinet of Lord Pal- 
merston. From being a Conservative 
Mr. Gladstone gradually adopted Lib- 
eral opinions and principles until in 
1868 he became prime minister. His 
speeches and orations in Parliament and 
out were the wonder and admiration of 
even his opponents. He contemplated 
great measures for the welfare of his 
country, including the extension of the 



suffrage, the formation of public schools 
and the disestablishment of the Irish 
Church. 

Mr. Gladstone was preeminently a 
scholar, and through all his long and 
distinguished career he found time to 
indulge in authorship, some of his pub- 
lished works showing the marked abil- 
ity which characterized him as a states- 
man and orator. He passed into a ripe 
old age laden with honors, and died 
May 16, 1898, It is enough to say that 
Mr. Gladstone must be named in that 
bright galaxy of distinguished men 
which includes our own Webster and 
Clay, while in some respects he is easily 
superior to every other statesman and 
orator the century has produced 

QOUQH, JOHN B. 

Orator and reformer, whose lectures 
on temperance and other subjects, deliv- 
ered throughout America and Great 
Britain, produced the highest oratorical 
and dramatic effects, was rescued when 
a young man from a life of dissipation, 
and soon rose to unparalleled fame as a 
platform speaker and temperance advo- 
cate. Born at Sandgate, Kent, Eng- 
land, 1817; he came to New York when 
but a boy, and had a hard struggle with 
poverty. His later life was marked by 
comfort and the most happy home influ- 
ences. Stricken with apoplexy while 
lecturing at Frankford, near Philadel- 
phia, and died, 1886. 

GRADY, HENRY WOODFIN. 

He was born in Athens, Ga., May 17, 
185 1, and died in Atlanta, Ga., Decem- 
ber 23, 1889. No written memorial 
can indicate the strong hold which this 
young orator had upon the Southern 
people. Although he died at the earl 5' 
age of thirty-eight, his fame was world- 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



589 



wide, and there was perhaps no man in 
the nation more honored and respected, 
both North and South, than was this 
phenomenally gifted writer and speaker 
during the last few years of his life. 

On the 2istof December, 1887, Mr. 
Grady, in response to an urgent invita- 
tion, delivered an address at a banquet 
of the New England Club, New York, 
which attracted wide attention. This, 
and similar speeches, did much to wipe 
out the prejudices engendered by the 
war, bridge the bloody chasm, and 
draw the two sections into a closer 
union. 

HARRISON, BENJAMIN. 

Harrison is an honored name in the 
history of our country, several members 
of this family having distinguished 
themselves in public life, and two of 
them, William Henry and Benjamin 
having been elected to the highest of- 
fice in the nation. William Henry, 
''the hero of Tippecanoe," was elected 
President in 1840 by a large majority 
over Van Buren, but survived his in- 
auguration only one month. 

Benjamin Harrison was elected to the 
same high office in 1888, receiving the 
vote of all the old free States except 
Connecticut and New Jersey. Four 
years later he was defeated by Grover 
Cleveland, the most commanding figure 
in the Democratic party during the last 
two decades of the century. 

Mr. Harrison was born at North Bend, 
Ohio, in 1833, and graduated at Miami 
University in 1852. He left his law 
practice in Indianapolis to become col- 
onel of the Seventieth Indiana Regi- 
ment, and during the Civil War served 
in the Army of the Cumberland. He 
participated in the capture of Atlanta 



and was made brigadier-general. In 
1880 he was elected from Indiana to the 
United States Senate and was soon re- 
garded as one of the strong men in the 
upper house of Congress. His erudi- 
tion, forcible speech and honesty of 
purpose gave him an enviable name, 
and these qualities he exhibited as the 
Chief Executive of the nation. 

After retiring from the presidency 
Mr. Harrison gave lectures upon law in 
California, and returned to his law 
practice in which he was always con- 
sidered as holding the highest rank. 

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM. 

Next to the name of Washington 
none stands higher on the roll of illus- 
trious Americans than that of Abraham 
I/incoln. Indeed, the sixteenth Presi- 
dent of the United States, the skillful 
pilot who guided our ship of state 
through the stormy period of the great 
Civil War, is one of the most majestic 
figures in history. The occasion was 
great, and he was not only equal to it, 
but rose above it in such magnificent 
proportions as to impress the whole 
civilized world. While he cannot be 
called the " Father of his Country," he 
has been denominated its saviour. The 
tragic close of his life by the hand of an 
assassin gave him somewhat of the 
character of a martyr and has rendered 
his memory peculiarly sacred, 

Mr. lyincoln was born in Hardin 
County, Kentucky, February 12, 1809. 
He learned the little that the back- 
woods schools were capable of teaching, 
and was employed in rough farm-work 
until at the age of nineteen he took on 
a flat-boat a cargo to New Orleans. 
This was followed later by a second 
trading voyage, both of which showed 



590 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



the enterprise and self-reliance of the 
future celebrity. He studied law, re- 
moved to Springfield, Illinois, and soon 
attracted attention as a rising young 
lawyer of marked ability. He was 
elected to the State Legislature in 1834 
and served until 1842, having by this 
lime become a leader among the Whigs. 
In the latter year he was married to 
Mary Todd, daughter of Robert Todd 
of lycxington, Kentucky. 

In 1846, Mr. Lincoln, was elected to 
Congress, but his service was limited 
to a single term. In 1854, Stephen A. 
Douglass, United States Senator from 
Illinois, by his Kansas-Nebraska bill, 
repealed the Missouri Compromise of 
1820, and reopened the question of 
slavery in the territories. When the 
Republican party was organized in 
1856 to oppose the extension of slavery, 
Mr. Lincoln was its most prominent 
representative in Illinois. A public de- 
bate on the political questions of the 
hour between him and Senator Doug- 
lass in 1858, attracted the attention of 
the whole country and brought out 
brilliantly Mr. Lincoln's great power in 
debate, his ready eloquence, his practi- 
cal common sense, his fund of humor, 
and placed him among the foremost 
men of the country, preparing the way 
for his election ^.o the Presidency in 
i860. 

He did all thixt lay in his power to 
avert the Civil War, but plainly avowed 
'.his intention to uphold, according to 
his oath, the Constitution and adminis- 
tration of the laws of the country. How 
ably, how wisely, how fearlessly, and 
with what fidelity to his country's cause 
he did this, with what charity toward 
his enemies he carried himself, with 
what far-sighted wisdom his public 



measures were promulgated, and how 
he stood like a massive, unmovable 
tower of strength through the great con- 
flict that rocked our nation, is now a 
matter of well-known history. 

The Federal arms having been vic- 
torious after many defeats, and Mr. 
Lincoln having proved himself to be 
master of the situation, he was re-elected 
by a large popular majority in 1864. In 
his second inaugural address in March, 
1865, he rose above the ordinary rangr 
of such occasions, and like an inspired 
prophet set forth the profound moral 
significance of the war he saw drawing 
to a close. A month later he entered 
Richmond, from which Grant had driven 
Davis and Lee. 

On the 14th of April, 1865, he was 
assassinated by J. Wilkes Booth, an 
actor, and died the next morning. The 
national rejoicing over the return of 
peace was turned into grief for the 
martyred President. The whole civil- 
ized world joined in expressions of sor- 
row for his fate. 

Mckinley, william. 

The highest distinction that can be 
conferred by our country has been 
bestowed upon this American states- 
man, who was born at Niles, Ohio, 
February 26, 1844. He enlisted in the 
U. S. army in May, 1861, as a private 
soldier in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, and was mustered out as cap- 
tain of the same regiment and brevet- 
major in September, 1865. He was 
prosecuting attorney of Stark county, 
Ohio, 1869-71. Being elected to Con- 
gress in 1877 he lost his seat, through 
some technicalities in the election, by 
vote of the house in 1884, but was re- 
elected and sat continuously as a mem- 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



591 



ber of Congress from 1885 to March 4, 
1891. 

He became famous as the author of 
the protective tariff bill passed by Con- 
gress in 1890, a measure which was 
largely modified by Mr. Cleveland's 
administration, but the wisdom of which 
has been claimed by Mr. McKinley and 
his party as being fully vindicated. In 
1896 he was nominated with great 
enthusiasm for the Presidency by the 
Republican party, and was elected in 
November of that year by an immense 
popular majority. In his conduct of the 
Spanish-American War and his treat- 
ment of all the difficult questions arising 
from time to time, his course has been 
approved by a large majority of his 
countrymen and his fame as an orator 
and statesman has been established. 

MOODY, DWIQHT LYMAN. 

This celebrated American evangelist 
was born at Northfield, Mass., January 
5, 1837. He came of poor parentage 
and was deprived of educational advan- 
tages in his boyhoqd. For a while he 
was a salesman in Boston, and in 1856 
went to Chicago where he engaged with 
remarkable success in missionary v/ork. 
In 1870 he was joined by the well 
known singer, Ira D. Sankey, who was 
born at Edinburgh, Pa., in 1840. 

In 1873, they visited Great Britain as 
evangelists, attracting vast crowds and 
laboring with phenomenal success. 
They afterwards returned to America 
and worked together in all the large 
towns, awakening great enthusiasm 
among the churches and exerting an 
influence such as had never been known 
before in evangelistic work. Mr. Moody 
probably addressed a larger number of 
people than any preacher of modern or 



ancient times, his audiences ranging 
from 5,000 to 20,000 and upwards. 

Possessed of a strong physique, a 
hearty genial manner, a voice of great 
penetration and power, a fluent utter- 
ance, a simplicity necessitated by his. 
lack of education, but which added 
greatly to the effect of his discourses, he 
was for nearly forty years the most con- 
spicuous figure in religious work. 

At his home in Northfield, Mass., Mr. 
Moody planted schools for the education 
of both sexes, raised hundreds of thou- 
sands of dollars to establish and equip 
them, and left them as a monument to 
his liberal spirit, his great financial 
ability and his untiring energy in his 
labors for the welfare of others. Mr. 
Moody died in December, 1899, and 
Christian people throughout the civi- 
lized world expressed their sense of 
bereavement, and with glowing eulogies 
honored the man and his work. 

REED, THOMAS BRACKETT. 

Few American statesmen have had 
the reputation of being possessed of such 
eminent ability as this legislator, who 
was born in Maine, October 18, 1839. 
He graduated from Bowdoin College in 
i860 and studied law. In 1864 he 
entered the navy as acting assistant- 
paymaster, remaining in that position 
until 1865. He then resumed his pro- 
fession. In 1868 he was a member of 
the lower branch of the Maine legisla- 
ture, and next session was a senator. 
He was attorney-general of the State for 
two years, and city solicitor for Portland 
for four years. 

He was elected a member of Congress 
in 1876, and afterward was continuously 
re-elected until he resigned his position 
in 1899 for the purpose of resuming the 



592 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



practice of law in New York City. In 
the Fifty-first Congress he was elected 
speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives, and the vigor of his administration 
attracted widespread attention. He was 
easily the leader of his party and during 
the latter part of his career in Congress 
was a prominent candidate for nomina- 
tion to the Presidency. 

SALISBURY, LORD. 

This English statesman was born in 
1830 and educated at Eton and Oxford. 
In 1866, having entered Parliament, he 
was secretary of state for India ; became 
minister of foreign affairs in 1 878 ; 
represented Great Britain at the Berlin 
congress ; became Prime Minister in 
1885, and in addition to these, has held 
other public offices which required a 
statesman of experience and ability. 

In all his public career Lord Salisbury 
has commanded the confidence of the 
conseivative element of Great Britain, 
and while his name has not been identi- 
fied with as many measures of reform as 
Mr. Gladstone's was, yet he has been a 
safe and wise leader in and out of Par- 
liament, and few statesmen in Great 
Britain have been more successful or 
have given better service to the coun- 
try. 

SHERMAN, JOHN. 

While not so brilliant an orator as 
some of his contemporaries, Mr. Sher- 
man has been for many years a promi- 
nent figure in Congress and in the cabi- 
nets £^t Washington. He was born at 
Lancaster, Ohio, in 1823, was educated 
at Lancaster, studied law with his bro- 
ther at Mansfield, and afterward prac- 
ticed for ten years. In 1855 he was 
elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress in 
the interest of the Free Soil party, and 



was re-elected to the next two Con- 
gresses. He became a power ou the 
floor and in committees, and was recog- 
nized as the foremost man in the H ouse 
particularly in matters affecting finance. 

In 1 86 1 he was chosen to the United 
States senate where he at once became 
a leader. From this time on he was a 
well-known figure in Washington, and 
on two different occasions efforts were 
made by his friends in the Republican 
party to secure for him the nomination 
for . the Presidency, which, however, 
were not successful. His name is asso- 
ciated with the resumption of specie 
payments and other financial measures 
which proved his great acumen as a 
financier. 

In person, Mr. Sherman is tall and 
slender, has a convincing manner of 
speech, and few men have possessed 
greater influence over thoughtful and 
intelligent leaders of popular opinion, 

SPURGEON, CHARLES HADDON, 

This noted English preacher, who has 
been pronounced the greatest since the 
days of the Apostles, was born in 1834, 
and was educated in a master's school 
near Cambridge. Against the opposi- 
tion of many of his relatives who were 
Independents, he adopted Baptist views, 
and became very active in religious 
work. He preached his first sermon 
when only sixteen years of age, and a 
little later preached at Waterbeach near 
Cambridge, becoming pastor of the 
chapel there. This edifice soon failed 
to hold the crowds that came to hear the 
well known young preacher. 

Invitations from London having come 
to him, he finally accepted the pastorate 
of the new Park Street Chapel, address- 
ing his first congregation there in 1853. 



ORATORS AND STATESMAN. 



69a 



The chapel was soon found to be too 
small and it was enlarged. The first 
enlargement, however, proved insuffi- 
cient, and its size was again increased, 
and finally it became necessary to build 
the Metropolitan Tabernacle, which was 
opened in i86i and accommodated some 
five thousand j)eople. Here the famous 
preacher gathered immense audiences, 
and carried on a remarkable work in the 
education of young men for the minis- 
try, and in establishing a home for 
orphans. 

After 1855 Mr. Spurgeon published 
one sermon a week, the whole number 
being upwards of two thousand. Pos- 
sessed of a wonderful voice of vast range 
and mellow qualities, Mr. Spurgeon 
could easily address twenty thousand 
people in the open air and make him- 
self distinctly heard by this vast multi- 
tude. His labors, however, told upon 
him and his death occurred in 1892. 

SUMNER, CHARLES. 

This distinguished American lawyer 
and senator was born in Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, in 181 1, and graduated at Har- 
vard College in 1830. He soon after- 
ward published several volumes of law 
books which exhibited profound learn- 
ing. Having travelled abroad several 
years, he pronounced in Boston on the 
4th of July, 1845, an oration on "The 
True Grandeur of Nations," which 
attracted much attention in the United 
States and in Europe, the design of 
which was to promote the cause of 
peace. 

Mr. Sumner was elected to the United 
States Senate in 1850 as the successor 
of Daniel Webster. During his long 
public career he was noted for his .'schol- 
arlv attainments, his brilliant oratiors 
38 



and strong anti-slavery sentiments. All 
of his public addresses were very elabo- 
rate, expressed lofty and patriotic views, 
and are now among American classics. 
The death of Mr. Sumner occurred in 
1874. 

TALMAQE, THOMAS DeWITT. 
This widely-known clergyman was 
born in New Jersey in 1832, and grad- 
uated at the University of the City of 
New York in 1853. After holding var- 
ious Dutch Reform pastorates, he set- 
tled over a Presbyterian church in 
Brooklyn in 1869. Having been de- 
prived by fire of his Tabernacle on two 
different occasions, he removed to Wash- 
ington in 1895. He has published 
several volumes of sermons and other 
works of a miscellaneous character. 
His style is graphic and often humor- 
ous, and his attractiveness as a public 
speaker drew crowds of hearers. In 
1899 he retired from his church in 
Washington and devoted himself to 
literary work. 

VICTORIA, QUEEN, 

Among the most noted women of 
the century a place must be accorded to 
the Queen of Great Britain and Em.press 
of India, whose reign has not only been 
distinguished by a longer period than 
was ever before attained by any Eng- 
lish sovereign, but by remarkable prud- 
ence, conspicuous womanly demeanor, 
great wisdom as a ruler and profound 
concern for the welfare of the many 
millions of subjects who owe allegiance 
to the "empire on which the sun never 
sets." 

Victoria was born at Kensington 
Palace, May 24, 1819. She succeeded 
her uncle, William IV., June 20, 1837. 
as Victoria I., and her coronation was 



594 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



celebrated in Westminster Abbey June 
28, 1838. She was married February 
10, 1840, to liis late Royal Highness 
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, 
by whom she had numerous issue. In 
1897 the Queen celebrated the 60th 
anniversary of her reign amid unparal- 
leled rejoicings on the part of her sub- 
jects, and congratulations from all the 
ruler' if the world. 

VINCENT, JOHN H. 

He was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 
in 1832, studied for the Methodist min- 
istry and became an itinerant preacher. 
He edited the New York " Sunday 
School Journal," and in 1874 founded 
the Chautauqua Assembly. Mr. Vin- 
cent was intimately connected with 
educational work at Chautauqua and 
elsewhere until he became in 1888 
a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

WEBSTER, DANIEL. 

One of America's most distinguished 
statesmen and orators, whose intellect- 
ual and oratorical triumphs at the bar 
and in the forum were long the pride of 
his country. He had warm political 
friends and bitter enemies. The latter 
accused him of a time-serving spirit, 
and an unscrupulous ambition to ob- 
tain the Presidency. His literary style 
is pure and elevated, and all his writ- 
ings, including his political speeches, 
bear the stamp of the highest order of 
genius. 

Mr. Webster was born at Salisbury, 
New Hampshire, and was educated at 
Dartmouth College. He studied law, 
rose rapidly in his profession and was 
soon regarded as a fit antagonist for 
Jeremiah Mason, who was regarded as 
the greatest lawyer in the State, and 



was many years older than Webster. 
He was elected a Representative in Con- 
gress and took his seat in 181 3. Here 
he distinguished himself by his legal 
acumen, his commanding presence and 
powerful eloquence. 

He continued to serve in the House 
of Representatives until 1828, when he 
was made United States Senator, repre- 
senting Massachusetts. He gained great 
fame by a number of public addresses 
on important occasions, such as the 
celebration of the landing of the Pil- 
grims, the dedication of Bunker Hill 
Monument, etc., while his memorable 
reply in Congress to Hayne, of South 
Carolina, ranked him as an orator with- 
out a peer. It was in this speech that 
he uttered the famous words, " lyiberty 
and Union, now and forever, one and 
inseparable." 

Mr. Webster was accused by his op- 
ponents of being over ambitions to ob- 
tain the Presidency, and of truckling to 
the slave power in the endeavor to 
obtain a nomination for that high office. 
Be that as it may, he did not succeed, 
and after a career whose brilliancy, all 
things considered, has scarcely been 
equalled in modern times, he died in 
1852 at Marshfield, Massachusetts, leav- 
ing behind him a great name in our 
country's annals. 

WILLARD, FRANCES E. 

One of our most distinguished Amer- 
ican women is the subject of this sketch. 
No one was more widely known or 
universally respected. She possessed 
talents of an unusual order, a warm and 
earnest spirit, untiring energy, the 
ability to influence others, and seemed 
to be lacking in none of those qualities 
essential to successful achievements. 



ORATORS AND STATESMEN. 



595 



She was an orator of the first rank, and' 
therefore deserves an honored place 
among the conspicuous names that 
stand out on these pages. 

Miss Willard was born in Church- 
ville, N. Y., September 28, 1839, and 
was educated at Milwaukee and the 
Northwestern Female College at Evans- 
ton, 111., from which she graduated in 
1859. She became Professor of Natural 
Sciences there in 1862, and was princi- 
pal of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in 
1866-67. She was known throughout 
the country for her devotion to the 
cause of reform, especially that branch 
of it embraced in temperance work. 

In 1874 she gave up all other en- 
gagements to identify herself with the 
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 
and was immediately made correspond- 
ing secretary, discharging the duties of 
this office until 1879, when she was 
elevated from the position of secretary 



to that of president. In 1 876 she assisted 
Dwight L. Moody in his evangelistic 
work and rendered efficient service. She 
organized the Home Protection Move- 
ment and sent an appeal from nearly 
200,000 people to the Legislature of 
Illinois, asking the temperance ballot 
for women. In 1888 she was made 
president of the American branch of 
the International Council of Women 
and the World's Christian Union. In 
1892 she visited England and received 
an enthusiastic welcome from the 
friends of reform in that country <. She 
was at the head of the Women's Com- 
mittee of Temperance Meetings at the 
World's Fair in 1893. 

Miss Willard was one of the most 
celebrated women of the century, a re- 
nowned leader whose nam.e will long 
be honored, not only by her own sex, 
but by everybody. She died in New 
York, February 18, 1898. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



Various Celebrities and their Achievements. 

IN a great variety of pursuits individuals with exceptional talents dis- 
tinguished themselves during the century. These comprise Military 
and Naval Commanders, Inventors, Explorers, Artists, Musicians, Finan- 
ciers, Statesmen, Orators, Poets, Novelists, Actors, etc. The greatest 
of these are here sketched, and their successes are noted. 



ALLISON, WILLIAM B. 

The career of this distinguished Sen 
ator aflfords another striking proof of 
the power and influence belonging to 
the individual man. Money talks for 
some men, social influence for others, 
learning and culture for others, and 
brains for others. The last-named ele- 
ment of success belongs especially to 
Mr. Allison. Combined with it is his 
sterling integrity and a character that 
has never been called in question. 

For a long time he has stood in the 
halls of the United States SenaU, tak- 
ing an active part in all its delibera- 
tions and debates. He is considered a 
statesman, eminently wise and safe. 
While it may be said that he has gained 
large experience in Congress, it may 
also be said that he brought his experi- 
ence with him. He was a man of pub- 
lic affairs, prominent and widely known 
before going to Washington. It was 
but natural that, having gained a local 
celebrity, he should be transferred to 
the wider field. 

His native State is Ohio, where he 
was born at Perry, Wayne County, 
March 2, 1829. lyike many others who 
have molded the affairs of the nation, 
he spent his early years upon a farm. 
596 



In 1862 Mr. Allison was elected to 
the 38th Congress as a Republican. 
He served in this capacity with such 
fidelity and distinction that he was re- 
elected to the three succeeding Con- 
gresses. His re-election, his neighbors 
were accustomed to remark facetiously, 
was chronic. He served continuously 
as a member of that body from Decem- 
ber 7, 1863, until March 3, 1871. Often 
he was appointed on important com- 
mittees, and, being a willing worker, 
was soon known as one of the most 
industrious and active members of 
the House. 

At the same time he kept in close 
touch with his constituents at home. 
They marked his achievements and 
were proud of his advancement in the 
estimation of the public. He was al- 
ways found at the post of duty, never 
shufiled or evaded any question of im- 
portance, was always willing to have 
his opinions known, and was always 
able to give a reason for the faith that 
was in him. 

In 1873 he was elected by the Legis- 
lature of Iowa to the United States 
Senate to succeed James Harlan, and 
subsequently was re-elected several 
times almost without opposition. 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



5m 



^RMOUR, PHILIP D. 

The ancient classic nations were in 
the habit of speaking of the seven won- 
ders of the world. If we were asked to 
give a list of the seven wonders of 
America the city of Chicago would most 
assuredly be one of them. It sits like 
a queen at the feet of the great chain of 
lakes which, taken together, are nothing 
less than an immense inland sea. Its 
growth has been rapid and phenominal. 
Within the memory of living men it 
was only a village, located on marshy 
ground, then giving no promise of be- 
coming the great metropolis of the 
West. 

While many causes have combined to 
render Chicago a city whose growth has 
been extraordinary, it is no less true that 
much is due to the enterprise of her cit- 
izens, among whom are numbered men 
of broad ideas, exceptional business 
ability, and an integrity made of gold 
unmixed with dross. One of these citi- 
zens whose remarkable successes have 
given fame to Chicago is Mr. Philip D. 
Armour — a full-grown man, looked at 
from every point of view, whose busi- 
ness career, whose unimpeachable char- 
acter and faithful endeavors in every 
walk of life, have made him conspicuous 
in the city of his residence and widely 
known throughout the country. He 
was born in Stockbridge, N. Y., May 
i6j 1832, and received his education in 
the district school of his native town. 

Like many young men, he was under 
the impression that some other part of 
the country than the one in which he 
was born and reared would afford a 
wider field for activity and success, and 
started out to seek his fortune, going to 
California in 185 i. This was only two 
or three years after the discovery of 



gold, but Mr. Armour found, even at 
that time, that fortunes are not picked 
up in a day. and he was doomed to dis- 
appointment. In 1856, he left Califor- 
nia, convinced that he could do bettei 
elsewhere. 

Mr. Armour went to Milwaukee, Wis., 
where he embarked in the commission 
business, meeting with the success that 
might be expected from a man of his 
ability. In connection with John Plank- 
ington, of Milwaukee, he established a 
packing house, and for a number of 
years devoted to the business his time 
and energies. This was in 1863, and in 
1868 the Chicago establishment of P. D. 
Armour & Co. was founded, which has 
branch houses in Kansas City and New 
York, and extends its trade all over the 
world. These packing houses are im- 
mense establishments, and, except by 
actual observation, no one would be able 
to get an accurate idea of the vast busi- 
ness that is carried on. 

One of the most magnificent presents 
Chicago ever received was from him, 
and the Armour Institute, fully en- 
dowed, stands not only as one of the 
finest ornaments of the city, but also as 
a monument that will perpetuate the 
memory and philanthropic disposition 
of the founder. 

BARTHOLDI, FREDERIC AUGUSTE. 

A curious irony of fate has decreed 
that the man whose genius has erected 
one of the most impressive monuments 
of peace was born in a land that has for 
ages been the cause and the scene of 
war. The man who gave the best 
efforts of his life to commemorating 
international amity is by the remorse- 
less decree of conflict a man without a 
country, his native home liie spoil of the 



598 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



traditional enemies of his race. It was 
at Colmar, in the vexed province of 
Alsace-Ivorraine, that Frederic Auguste 
Bartholdi was born, on April 2, 1834, 
and a true Alsatian he has ever been. 

Many of his best works are studies 
drawn from that country, often patriotic 
in spirit. When the war of 1870 rolled 
the tide of devastation over his native 
fields, he was the bravest of the brave in 
the front rank, vainly striving to repel 
the resistless invader. And when Ger- 
man swords cut the provinces away from 
France, and German bayonets pinned 
them fast to the German Empire again, 
he forsook his home rather than live 
under a foreign flag ; changing his 
skies, but not his heart. 

M. Bartholdi studied painting in his 
youth under Ary Scheflfer, at Paris. 
But the bent of his talents lay toward 
sculpture, and to that branch of art he 
finally devoted all his attention. His 
greatest work is the statue of Liberty 
which overlooks the Harbor of New 
/ork. The right hand, bearing a torch 
was sent to the Centennial Exhibition 
at Philadelphia in 1876. 

On Washington's birthday, February 
22, 1877, Congress in flattering terms 
accepted the statue as the gift of the 
French nation, and set apart Bedloe's 
Island as its site. The head of the 
statue was finished and shown at the 
Paris International Exposition of 1878. 
On the Yorktown anniversary, October 
24, 1 88 1, the framework was all com- 
pleted, and Hon. Levi P. Morton, Amer- 
ican Minister to France, drove the first 
rivet in the first piece that was mounted. 

More than 300,000 persons visited the 
workshop while it was being put to- 
gether. On July 4, 1884, the completed 
work was formally presented to the 



United States. Six months later it was 
taken down, packed, and in May, 1885, 
sent to America in the French govern- 
ment's ship "Isere." Meantime, by 
State appropriation and private sub- 
scription, the latter largely promoted by 
the enterprise of the ' ' New York 
World," a suitable pedestal had been 
built on Bedloe's Island. The work of 
putting the copper plates of which the 
statue is composed upon the framework 
was begun on July 12, 1886, and in 
October the great work was done. The 
unveiling occurred with imposing cere- 
monies on October 28, 1886. M. Bar- 
tholdi, M. de Lesseps, Admiral Jaures 
and many other eminent Frenchmen 
were in attendance. There were grand 
parades on land and water, and orations 
by Senators Evarts and Chauncey De- 
pew. 

BELL, ALEXANDER GRAHAM. 

He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 
in 1847, and was trained in the calling 
which had become hereditary in his 
family, that of teaching the deaf and 
dumb to communicate with others. 
He studied at the Edinburgh High 
School, and then at the University of 
Edinburgh, pursuing the usual courses 
of study and, in addition, being specially 
trained in the orthoepic system of his 
father and grandfather. At the age of 
twenty he entered the University of 
London ; but the climate of Great Brit- 
ain did not agree with his delicate 
health, and when his father, three years 
later, removed to Canada to take a pro- 
fessorship in Queen's College, Kings- 
ton, the son gladly accompanied him, 
and took up his residence in America. 

Mr. Bell came from Canada to live in 
the United States in 1872, having been 
called to Boston University, to be pro- 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



599 



fessor of vocal physiology. There he 
elaborated and perfected the system, 
which had originated in his family, of 
causing the dumb to speak and the deaf 
to hear. He studied every phase of the 
topic, every def)artment of the science 
of sound. He examined into the crea- 
tion of sound by the vocal organs ; the 
transmission of sounds by various medi- 
ums ; the reception and comprehension 
of sound by the organs of the ear. And 
thus, from endeavoring to make deaf- 
uuites converse at the distance of an 
arm's length, he went on to enable men 
to talk with each other, in their own 
natural tones of voice, at the distance 
of many miles. 

He first began to study the trans- 
mission of sound by electricity in 1870, 
the year he came from England to 
Canada. He was then merely trying to 
make more effective his teaching of 
deaf-mutes. His idea was to make, if 
possible, the tonal vibrations of the air 
visible to the eye. In this he came 
close to inventing the phonograph, 
which Mr. Edison thereafter gave to the 
world. He found that it was possible, 
by means of a vibrating plate armed 
with a stylus, to obtain a visible tracing 
of sounds upon a sheet of paper, or a 
smoke-blackened pane of glass. This 
process bore a close resemblance to the 
way the small bones of the ear are acted 
upon by the tympanum, and he con- 
tinued his experiments with an actual 
human ear, prepared for the purpose. 

Mr. Bell produced the first speaking 
telephone, obtaining a patent for it on 
February 14, 1876. On that very same 
day a patent was also granted to Gray 
for a similar device. The important 
difference between the two was this : 
Gray's telephone employed a battery, 



while Bell's used a magnet only. Mean- 
time another inventor had been at work, 
independent of these and indeed uncon- 
scious of what they were doing. This 
was Daniel Drawbaugh, a self-taught 
genius, living in an obscure Pennsyl- 
vania village. From 1867 to 1876 he 
devoted himself to electric research, and 
invented numerous telephones, some of 
them, it is said, almost identical with 
that of Bell. 

These rival claimants appealed to the 
courts for adjudication of their claims, 
and the verdicts have repeatedly been 
in favor of Mr. Bell, so that by common 
consent he is now regarded as the inven- 
tor. A company was organized, and tele- 
phones were introduced into every city 
and town, and they are now regarded 
as an every day necessity of business 
life. Mr. Bell has, of course, realized 
\n enormous fortune from his invention. 

BOOTH, EDWIN. 

Edwin Booth was born at Baltimore, 
Maryland, on November 15, 1833. He 
was the fourth son of Junius Brutus 
Booth, himself the foremost actor of 
his day. The elder Booth was thirty- 
seven years old when Edwin was born ; 
at the height of his powers and fame. 
Between the father and this son a special 
sympathy existed ; undemonstrative, 
but deep and lasting. So while he was 
yet but achild he was taken from school 
to accompany his father about the 
country on his dramatic tours. Ed- 
win's education, therefore, was ob- 
tained by fits and starts. It was sup- 
plemented by much experience of the 
world, both of its caresses and its buffet- 
ings. 

The result was that he grew up 
thoughtful, observant, rather moody; 



600 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



strong in judgment, self-reliant, inflex- 
ible of will. He was reticent, too, and 
modest ; and received both praise and 
blame with equanimity. In time, from 
being his father's pet, he became his 
comrade, and then at last his guardian 
and his master, the only one who could 
advise and influence that inspired but 
wayward genius. 

Early in his career Edwin Booth went, 
with his father and brother, the laiter 
named for the father, to California, and 
played at San Francisco and at Sacra- 
mento. There each of the three had a 
benefit performance. First came that 
of the father, Junius Brutus Booth, in 
vhicli he played "Richard III.," the 
f^ons taking minor parts. Next came 
the benefit of Junius Brutus Booth, 
junior, that actor playing "Othello" to 
his father's "lago." Last came Ed- 
win's benefit and he played "Jaffler" to 
his father's "Pierre." It was on that 
occasion, Edwin being costumed in 
black, that his father remarked, casu- 
ally, "Ned, you do look like ' Hamlet.' 
Why didn't you choose 'Hamlet' for 
to-night? " To which the young man 
answered, carelessly, "At my next bene- 
fit, I will." This was his first leaning 
toward the great part of which he has 
become the world's greatest exponent, 
and with which his name mi'st be for- 
ever intertwined. 

At great cost he erected in New 
York such a theatre as never before had 
been dreamed of in this country. It 
was the architectural gem of the city. 
Its dimensions were vast, its seating 
capacity enormous. Its visual and 
.acoustic properties were perfect. Upon 
its stage the greatest plays could be 
enacted with every possible spectacular 
accessory. The scenery was gorgeous, 



and every mechanical equipment wa.^ 
provided. Here Mr. Booth gathered 
about him a company of the best actors 
and actresses in America, and gave rep- 
resentations of the greatest dramas with 
a perfection of detail and ensemble such 
as had before been unknown. 

The result was that the unapprecia- 
tive public left his theatre em.pty and 
flocked to see the "cheap and nasty" 
sensational plays that third-rate "barn- 
stormers" produced at rival houses. 
Mr. Booth was bankrupt, his own and 
his friends' fortunes swept away and 
only debts left to remind him of his 
glorious ambition. He for years lived 
with the utmost economy, in order to 
make good to his creditors and his 
friends the losses of his theatre. That 
done, he accumulated a handsome for- 
tune for himself. His fame as an actor 
was unrivalled. Died in 1893. 

CARNEGIE, ANDREW. 

Mr. Carnegie was born in Dunferm- 
line, in Scotland, on the 25th of No- 
vember, 1835. When he was twelve 
years of age he emigrated to America 
and settled at Pittsburg with his Bar- 
ents and a younger brother. He was 
then almost penniless. He afterward 
accumulated many millions, and wields 
an influence in the industrial world as 
great, possibly, as that of any living 
man. It may be said that Mr. Carne- 
gie was exceptionally equipped for suc- 
cess both mentally and morally ; num- 
bering among his mental qualities 
shrewdness, persistence, a good mem- 
ory and an intuitive insight into char- 
acter, and among his moral qualities 
integrity, gratitude and geniality. 

But his phenomenal rise in life must 
be attributed largely to his following 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



mi 



certain clear principles and methods. 
Some of these he defined in an admir- 
able address to the students of a com- 
mercial college at Pittsburg. These 
are his maxims, summarized : 

"Avoid drink; avoid speculation; 
avoid endorsements. Aim high. For 
the question, 'What nmsi I do for my 
employer? ' substitute ' What can I do? 
Begin to save early — ' capitalists trust 
the saving young man.' Concentrate 
your energy, thought and capital ; fight 
it out on one line." (The lack of con- 
centration he considers i/ie failing of 
American business men.) 

Tq these injunctions he might well 
have added another, suggested by his 
own career : " Never think your educa- 
tion ended." 

Mr. Carnegie's benefactions have been 
enormous, reaching many million dol- 
lars. Numerous towns have fully 
equipped public libraries which have 
been furnished by his well-known 
maxim, "No man should die rich." 

CLEVELAND, GROVER. 

Among men who have had the nerve 
to meet the demands of rapidly unfold- 
ing destiny Grover Cleveland stands 
conspicuous. He was born at the mod- 
est village of Caldwell, Essex county, 
N. J., March i8, 1837. His father, 
Richard F. Cleveland, was the village 
pastor of the Presbyterian Church. His 
mother was Anna Neal, the daughter of 
a bookseller and publisher of Baltimore, 
Md. In 1 84 1 the Caldwell pastor moved 
to Fayetteville, Onondaga county, N. 
Y., and thence, after nine years, to 
Clinton, in Oneida county, and in 1853 
to Holland Patent, near Utica, where 
he died after a settlement of but three 
weeks, leaving a widow and nine chil- 



dren, of whom Grover <vas the third. 
This noble mother lived to rear all her 
children and passed from earth in April, 
1882. 

Having been admitted to the bar ir 
1859, Mr. Cleveland made rapid ad- 
vances, and in January, 1863, he was 
appointed Assistant District Attorney 
for the county of Erie, and in 1870 was 
elected Sheriff. On the expiration ,of 
his term in this office he resumed his 
legal practice and was pushed rapidly to 
the forefront in local politics, and was 
also an active worker in the leading lit- 
erary and historical efforts of the com^ 
munity. In 1881 he was elected to the 
Mayoralty of Buffalo by a solid major- 
ity, and took office January i, 1882. 

He was subsequently elected Gover- 
nor of New York by the Democratic 
party, and was nominated for the Presi- 
dency of the United States and electea 
in 1882. Having served his party well 
he was re-elected President in 1892, 
retiring from public life at the expira- 
tion of his term. Mr. Cleveland was an 
advocate of a low tariff, a conservative 
leader, a wise" counsellor and conscien- 
tious executive. 

DEWEY, ADMIRAL GEORGE. 

George Dewey was born in Montpel- 
ier, Vt., on Christmas night, 1837. He 
came from the finest Colonial stock of 
New England, and from as good fight- 
ing stock as ever distinguished itself. 
It was such stock that constituted the 
Green Mountain boys and gave sturdy 
battle at Bunker Hill. 

His ancestor, Thomas Dewey, was 
among that small band of Pilgrims 
which landed in Massachusetts Bay in 
1630. Old Vermonters tell the legend 
of another of his ancestors, named the 



ero2 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES ANDrHEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



Rev. Jedediali Dewey, who began to 
preach the Gospel of Christ on that 
Sunday morning when the Battle of 
Bennington was fought. At the out- 
break of war the Rev. Jedediah laid 
down the Bible, asked the congregation 
to follow him, shouldered his musket 
and marched to the firing line. When 
he had helped vanquish the English, he 
went back to church, opened the Bible, 
took up the fifthly part of his orthodox 
sermon and went on as if a victorious 
affray was an everyday affair. 

It is a striking coincidence that 
another Dewey should sail over to a 
great fleet on another Sunday morning, 
vanquish this fleet, then draw back his 
ships and have breakfast served. Dew- 
ey's great victory at Manila was won on 
May ist, 1898. The grand qualities he 
there displayed as a naval commander 
have made his fame world-wide, and 
placed him in the galaxy of naval 
heroes that includes Rodney, Nelson, 
Paul Jones and Farragut. 

It is related that when the people of 
Montpelier after the battle of Manila 
were celebrating the proud achie\e- 
ments of their fellov/- townsman, an 
incident occurred which showed the 
estimate of at least one of the old resi- 
dents of the place, a sort of droll charac- 
ter with a strong infusion of Yankee 
shrewdness. While the crowd was lin- 
ing the street this man was seen making 
his way toward the old school-hou'3e, 
carrying a long board which was care- 
fully wrapped so that no one could 
see it. 

Arriving at the school-house the man 
took off the covering and proceeded to 
nail the board up over the door. When 
people read it they found this lettering: 
" Here is where his ideas were taught 



to shoot." A profound truth is con- 
veyed in til is statement. The old New 
Kngland school-house has been the 
nursery of some of our country's great- 
est men. There they studied, played 
pranks in their boyhood, and perhaps 
were soundly whipped, but it is well to 
recall the saying inscribed on the Con- 
necticut house built at the World's 
Fair : ' ' The finest products of Connecti- 
cut are her men and women," 

It may be said with truth that in 
Dewey's case as well as in nearly all 
others, the boy was the father of the 
man. His career is worthy of the great 
American historian of the future. Al- 
most at the close of his active life this 
soldier of the sea was told to " destroy 
the Spanish fleet." He did destroy it. 
He let no ship escape. He lost not a 
man in his fleet. He proved himself a 
statesman in the subsequent handling 
of affairs at Manila. He showed him- 
self master over any situation. Well 
has he won his proud title of admiral 
of the navy, better still has he won the 
gratitude of a great people, and best of 
all has he won for himself a name writ- 
ten large and glorious in the naval his- 
tory of the world. 

A magnificent reception, unsurpassed 
in our country's history, awaited him 
on his return from the scene of his vic- 
tory, millions of his countrymen vying 
with one another to do him honor. 
Early In 1900 Admiral Dewey an- 
nounced himself a candidate for nomi- 
nation to the Presidency. 

On the second anniversary of the 
Admiral's victory at Manila a great 
welcome was tendered him by Chicago 
and many other cities and towns in the 
west and south-west. Multitudes greeted 
him with enthusiasm. 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



60d 



EDISON, THOMAS A, 

No name in the realm of scientific dis- 
"jovery is more distinguished than that 
of Edison, more especially in that part 
of it which relates to electricity. We 
find him at the age of ten reading the 
histories of Gibbon and Hume, yet his 
biographers assert that he went to 
school only two months in his boyhood- 
Like the vast majority of those men 
who have left a deep impression upon 
their time, he was born in poverty and 
obscurity, being conspicuously a self- 
made man. His education was under 
the direction of h^s mother, yet at best 
was but superficial. 

Mr. Edison was hotn at Alva, Ohio, 
February 1 1, 1847. As soon as he was 
old enough to become interested in any 
study, he showed great fondness for 
chemistry. This indicated the bent of 
his mind, and was a prophecy that the 
natural sciences would be his favorite 
pursuit. While he was employed as a 
newsboy on a railway train, he deter- 
mined to learn telegraphy. Here was the 
beginning of that remarkable career, 
and of those discoveries which, if they 
have not revolutionized the telegraph 
system, have certainly promoted its ef- 
ficiency and perfected its instruments. 
While residing at Adrian, Mich., he 
opened a shop for repairing telegraph in- 
struments and making new machinery. 

Mr. Edison's history is more than 
usually rich in incidents of an interest- 
ing character. When he was selling 
papers and candies on the trains of the 
Grand Trunk Railway, he was making 
a hobby of chemistry. At this time he 
was a mere boy. Not having any other 
facilities for experimenting, he con- 
structed an amateur laboratory in one 



corner of a baggage-car. When other 
boys would have been at play, he was 
amusing and instructing himself in that 
corner. During his absence one day a 
bottle of phosphorus, by being upset, 01 
in some way broken, set the car on fire. 
Grave doubts were entertained as to the 
propriety of having so dangerous a laa 
on board the train, and the baggage- 
master kicked his chemicals and appar- 
atus out of the car, which did not, how- 
ever, put an end to the boy's passion 
for chemistry. He improvised another 
laboratory in a different place, and con- 
tinued his studies as before. 

Naturally a mind so alert was con- 
stantly seeking,out new inventions. He 
never saw an instrument without im- 
mediately asking himself whether it 
could not in some way be perfected. 

The idea of the telephone had long 
been in existence. It was first practically 
applied in the construction of toys. 
One called the "Lover's String" was 
made in 1831, and is the simplest form 
of a telephone. The discoveries and 
improvements of Mr. Edison have aided 
greatly in perfecting this instrument. 
The transmitter, constructed and im- 
proved by him and Blake, is combined 
with the Bell telephone and makes the 
telephone of general use. To such a 
state of perfection has the instrument 
been brought that over long distances, 
even between some of our great cities, 
communication can be successfully car- 
ried on. 

It is not too much to say that Mr. 
Edison's ideas have entered largely into 
all the electrical discoveries of recent 
time. His inventions consist of im- 
provements in the electric light and 
the teleph )ne. He is also the inventor 
of the phonograph, the quadruplex and 



604 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



sextuplex transmitter, the microphone, 
the magaphone, the kinete'scope, the 
mimeograph, the electric light, the elec- 
tric ^en, etc. 

FIELD, MARSHALL. 

Marshall Field was born in Conway, 
Mass., in 1835. His father was a farmer, 
and that, too, in a locality where it is 
no easy matter to make two blades of 
grass grow where one grew before. It 
was not needful that the father should 
make fortunes and successes for the son; 
the son had fortunes and successes in 
himself. He went to Chicago in 1856 
and obtained employment in the whole- 
sale dry goods house of Cooley, Wads- 
worth & Co., afterwards Cooley, Far- 
well & Co., and subsequently the John 
V. Farwell Company. 

In i860 he obtained an interest in the 
concern, but in 1865 Mr. Field and L. 
Z. Inciter withdrew from the house, and 
in connection with Potter Palmer orga- 
nized the firm of Field, Palmer and 
Leiter. Mr. Palmer withdrew in 1 867, 
and the firm became Field, Leiter & Co. 
Since the retirement of Mr. Leiter, in 
1 88 1, the house has been known by the 
name of Marshall Field & Co. 

To say that its business has been 
extended, not only throughout Amer- 
ica, but into other parts of the world, 
until it is, perhaps, the most extensive 
of its kind of which we have any 
record, speaks volumes for the tact and 
enterprise, sound judgment and perse- 
vering energy of those who have had 
the management of it. While Mr. Field 
has been associated with men of ability 
and not capable of making many mis- 
takes, his guiding thought and practi- 
cal business talent have been displayed 
througliout. 



FULLER, MELVILLE W. 

The Chief Justice of the United 
States Supreme Court during the clos- 
ing years of the century was Melville 
W. Fuller. He was born in Augusta, 
Maine, February 11, 1833, and twenty 
years later graduated from Bowdoin 
College, an institution which has been 
peculiarly favored in its distinguished 
graduates. Having studied law at Har- 
vard College, Mr. Fuller entered upon 
the practice of his profession in his 
native city in 1855. 

In 1856 he was elected City Attorney. 
But, like many young men born and 
reared in New England, he was seized 
with the Western fever, and determined 
to go West to find a wider field for his 
energies. He removed to Chicago, 
where, for thirty-two years, he con- 
ducted a highly successful law practice- 
having gained immediately a wide rep- 
utation for legal acumen, and for honor- 
able methods in the management of his 
cases. 

When President Cleveland selected 
him to fill the vacancy on the Supreme 
Bench of the United States caused by 
the death of Chief Justice Waite, the 
choice was pronounced a wise one by 
those who knew Mr. Fuller best. Those 
who had not known him were some- 
what surprised at his selection, but sub- 
sequent events have justified the wisdom 
of the choice. He was confirmed by the 
Senate July 20, 1888, and took the oath 
of office on the 8th of October follow- 
ing. 

GRANT, ULYSSES S. 

General Grant, the eighteenth Presi- 
dent of the United States, was inaugu- 
rated at Washington with imposing cer- 
emonies, on the 4th of March, 1869. 
He was born at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



605 



on the 27tli of April, 1822. His father 
was a tanner, and wished him to follow 
his trade, but the boy had more ambi- 
tious hopes, and, at the age of seven- 
teen, a friend secured for him an ap- 
pointment as a cadet at West Point, 
where he was educated. Upon gradu- 
ating, he entered the army. Two years 
later he was sent to Mexico, and served 
through the war with that country with 
distinction. He was specially noticed 
by his commanders, and was promoted 
for gallant conduct. 

Soon after the close of the war, he 
resigned his commission, and remained 
in civil life and obscurity until the 
breaking out of the Civil War, when 
he volunteered his services, and was 
commissioned by Governor Yates, col- 
onel of the Twenty-first Illinois regi- 
ment. He was soon made a brigadier- 
general, and fought his first battle at 
Belmont. In February, 1862, he cap- 
tured Fort Henry, and ten days later 
Fort Don el son, with more than 14,000 
prisoners, for which victories he was 
made Major-General of Volunteers. In 
the following April he fought a two 
days' battle at Shiloh, amongst the 
severest of the war, in which General 
A. S. Johnston, commanding the Con- 
federate Army, was killed. 

Grant's next exj^loit was the capture 
of Vicksburg after a long and stubborn 
siege. The surrender of the stronghold 
included 3 1 ,600 prisoners and 172 can- 
non. Rapidly he rose to be commander- 
in-chief of the Federal army, defeated 
General Lee in the bloody battles of the 
Wilderness, and received Lee's surren- 
der, involving the downfall of the Con- 
federacy, in April, 1865. In 1866 Grant 
was advanced to the grade of full Gen- 
eral, and in May, 1868, he was nomi- 



nated for the Presidency by the Repub- 
lican convention, and in the following 
November was elected. 

He was again elected to the Presi- 
dency in November, 1872, and proved 
a wise and successful executive. He 
died at Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, 
N. Y., July 23, 1885. 

IRVING, HENRY. 

John Henry Brodrib Irving, best 
known as Henry Irving, was born at 
Keinton, near Glastonbury, Somerset- 
shire, England, on February 6, 1838, 
the only son of his parents. At twelve 
years old he was entered at the school 
of Dr. Pinches in Georgeyard, Lombard 
street, London, and at that early age 
quickly won a reputation for skill in dra- 
matic recitations. His first theatrical part 
was that of "The Uncle,"a role in which 
in after years he has been frequently and 
greatly admired. The early perform- 
ance was enacted upon the platform of 
Dr. Pinches' school. At fourteen years 
old he was entered in the office of an 
East India merchant, and i»"as destined 
for commercial life. 

Against this, however, his inclina- 
tions rebelled. At odd moments he 
studied dramatic art with an actor 
named Hoskins, who introduced him to 
Mr. Phelps, a theatrical manager, who 
offered him an engagement in a minor 
part at Sadler's Wells. This, however, 
young Irving declined. His first ap- 
pearance accordingly was made in 1856 
at a theatre at Sunderland, by happy 
coincidence called the Lyceum. 

His famous career at the Lyceum 
Theatre, London, probably the most 
successful in the annals of the modern 
stage, began in 1871. At first pros- 
pects were not bright The house had 



J06 



VARIOUS CEIvEBRlTlES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



an ill name ; it had for years been un- 
successful, a sort of managerial grave- 
yard. Mr. Irving's first play, " Fan- 
chette," was a poor one and met with 
deserved failure, but his next one atoned 
for it. It was Mr. Albery's adaptation of 
"Pickwick." Mr. Irving's impersona- 
tion of "Alfred Jingle" was irresisti- 
bly funny, and the public crowded the 
house nightly. In November of that 
year "The Bells" was produced, and 
Mr. Irving scored a great hit in the part 
of "Matthias," which in the years fol- 
lowing he immortalized. The town 
was literally taken by storm. "He did 
not," says a well-known writer, "wake 
the next morning and find himself 
famous; he knew it before he went to 
bed." 

JACKSON, THOMAS J. (STONEWALL). 

Thomas Jonathan, better known the 
world over as Stonewall Jackson, an 
American general, was born in Lewis 
Co., Va., 1824, and graduated at West 
Point Academy, 1846. After serving 
with distinction in the Mexican War, 
he became a professor in the Military 
Institute at Lexington, Va., until the 
outbreak of the Civil War. A briga- 
dier-general in the Confederate service 
at the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, 
his command on that occasion "stood 
like a stone wall," to use the words of 
a distinguished general present. 

In September he received the rank of 
.najor-general ; defeated Gen. Banks at 
Strasburg, May 23, 1862; fought an 
indecisive battle with Fremont at Cross 
Keys, June 8 ; commanded a corps in 
the battles of Gaines' Mill, June 27, and 
Malvern Hill, July i ; again defeated 
Gen. Banks at Cedar Mountain, Aug. 9; 
captured Harper's Ferry with 11,000 



Federal prisoners, Sept. 1 5 ; commanded 
a corps at Antietam, Sept. 17 ; and was 
made lieutenant-general for his services 
in largely contributing to the National 
defeat at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
On the 2d May, 1863, by a clever flank 
movement, he defeated the nth corps 
of Gen. Hooker's army at Chancellors- 
ville ; and on the evening of the same 
day was fired at by a patrol party of his 
own men, who mistook him and his 
staff, in the darkness, for a detachment 
of Union cavalry. He died of his 
wounds on the loth. 

JEFFERSON, JOSEPH. 

One of the most renowned comedians 
of the century, born in Philadelphia in 
1829. He came of a theatrical stock, 
his great-grandfather having been a 
member of Garrick's company at Drury 
Lane, while his father and grandfather 
were well known American actors. 
With such an ancestry it is not wonder- 
ful that young Jefferson was on the 
stage from his very infancy, appearing 
as Cora's child in " Pizarro " when only 
three years of age, and dancing as a 
miniature "Jim Crow '' when only four. 
For many years he went through the 
hard training of a strolling actor and 
then played in New York, where in 
1857, he made a hit as Dr. Pangloss, 
and in 1858 created the part of Asa 
Trenchard in " Our American Cousin," 
Sothern playing Lord Dundreary. 

In 1865 he visited London and at the 
Adelphi Theatre played for the first 
time his world-famous part of Rip Van 
Winkle. With this character his name 
is identified, and, although he has shown 
himself an admirable comedian in many 
characters, to the English-speaking 
world he is always Rip Van Winkle, 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



607 



-rhich in his hands is a character beau- 
tiful in conception, subtle and delicate 
in execution. And the art is all the 
actor's; the dramatist has done nothing; 
it requires a Jefferson to present Rip 
Van Winkle. 

LEE, ROBERT E. 

Robert Edmund Lee, commander-in- 
chief of the Confederate forces in the 
field during the American Civil War, 
and son of Gen. Henry Lee, was born in 
1808. He graduated from West Point 
in 1829, and in 1846 received the chief 
command of the American engineer 
corps engaged in the war against Mex- 
ico. Throughout the campaign that 
followed, Lee distinguished himself so 
highly that he gained promotion to the 
rank o:' colonel, and was on several 
occasions highly commended in General 
Taylor's despatches. From 1852 till 
1855, he filled the position of Superin- 
tendent of West Point Academy — a post 
he resigned on his being appointed 
lieutenant- colonel of cavalry. 

In 1 86 1, on the breaking out of the 
Civil War, Colonel Lee resigned his 
commission in the National service, and 
placed his sword at the commacid of his 
native State. So high was his reputa- 
tion tliat he was at once appointed to 
the chief command of the Virginian 
levies, with the rank of general in the 
Confederate army. His career thence- 
forward epitomized the successes and 
reverses of the sanguinary struggle that 
ensued. 

In May, 1862, he succeeded Gen. J. 
E. Johnston in the command in chief 
of the army, and conducted the memor- 
able campaigns which, during a period 
of four years, and, in fact, till the close 
of the war, resulted in the repulse of 



Gens. McClellan, Pope, Hooker, and 
Burnside. In 1865, he was appointed 
generalissimo, and, after displaying 
throughout his arduous command both 
consummate ability as a general, and 
most estimable qualities as a man, he 
was at length compelled to succumb to 
his tenacious adversary, Gen. Grant, 
April 9, 1865, on which day, at Appo- 
mattox Court-House, he surrendered 
himself and what was left of his army 
prisoners of war. After frankly accept- 
ing the inexorable logic of events, his 
career thenceforward was one preemi- 
nently in accordance with his superior 
qualities both of mind and heart. Died 
in October, 1870. 

MARCONI, M. GUIGLIELMO. 

Since the perfection of the telegraph 
and telephone for commercial purposes, 
and the laying of cables across the ocean 
for the transmission of messages, elec- 
trical experts have been studying the 
problem of transmission of electrical 
energy for messages without wires. 
Gray devised a method of sending sig- 
nals along light waves, and others tried 
transmitting telegrams to moving trains 
by means of the rails. These methods, 
however, were not successful in the 
main, and it was left for M. Guiglielmo 
Marconi, a native of Florence, Italy, yet 
in his twenties, to discover that Hert- 
zian waves could be generated from 
electricity and sent across space without 
the means of intervening wires. 

In 1895, while yet quite young, Mar- 
coni was experimenting across his fath- 
er's fields in Bologna, Italy, and by the 
use of tin boxes, called "capacities," 
set upon poles of varying height, and 
connected to separate instruments by 
insulated wires, he sent and received by 



VARIOUS CELEBRITIES AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. 



a crude transmitter and receiver elec- 
trical signals without the aid of inter- 
vening wires. He soon learned that 
certain distances could be covered only 
by having the poles for his boxes of cer- 
tain height, and the height of the poles 
had to be increased with the distance. 
He experimented with the aid of sev- 
eral other scientists for some time, and 
then the world was startled early in 1899 
by the news that messages had been 
sent by this wireless method across the 
English Channel from Dover to Bou- 
logne. 

MELBA, MADAME NELLIE. 

Of all the talented and charming 
prima donna who delight the eyes and 
ears of the American public, Madame 
Melba is, without doubt, the leading 
favorite. This brilliant singer, who is 
gifted with a voice of wonderful sweet- 
ness and sympathy of tone, was born in 
Melbourne, Australia, from which town 
she takes the name of Melba, her father 
having been a well-known organist, 
whose greatest pleasure was to teach 
his little daughter music. 

Madame Melba sang in concerts and 
opera in many of the large towns of 
Europe, but her first great success in a 
really great role, was at the Grand 
Opera House in Paris, where she ap- 
peared in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet 
on November 4, 1889; her Juliet on 
that occasion being pronounced a com- 
plete and perfect success, and gaining 
for her many admirers. She has sung 
many great roles since then, amongst 
others, Lucia, Marguerite, etc. , but it is 
as Juliet that she is always at her best ; 
and it is with the ever popular opera 
of Romeo and Juliet that we always 
associate her name. 



PATTL ADELINA. 

Adelina Patti was born at Madrid, 
April 9, 1843. I^^ early youth she came 
to America with her parents and studied 
music with her brother-in-law, Maurice 
Strakosch. She first appeared in New 
York, November 24, 1859, ^'^^ her voice 
at once attracted attention. In 1861 
she appeared in London in "La Som- 
nambula." She took the town by 
storm and became the prime favorite of 
the day. Since then she has maintained 
her rank as the most popular operatic 
star living. Not only is she an unex- 
ampled vocalist, but her acting is such 
as would place her in the first rank, 
were she not gifted with song. 

WANAMAKER, JOHN. 

He was born in Philadelphia, July I w, 
1838; attended a country school until 
he was fourteen, and there obtained 
about the only education he ever re- 
ceived. His first place was that of 
messenger boy with the publishing 
house of Troutman & Hayes, at the ex- 
c^dingly modest salary of $1.25 a 
week. 

Having entered mercantile life when 
a young man, he rose step by step until 
he became the leading merchant-prince 
of America and proprietor of the largest 
store in the country. He is a man of 
sterling integrity and marvellous exe- 
cutive ability. 

Having many times declined public 
office, in 1889 he accepted the portfolio 
of Postmaster-General in President 
Harrison's Cabinet, and introduced into 
the department the most approved busi- 
ness methods. During his wise and 
efifi.cient administration he did much 
toward perfecting and extending the 
postal service. 



APPENDIX A 

CONTAINING A 

FULJ. ACCOUNT OF THE LATEST EVENTS IN THE 
JOSTORY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



TT^ONTINUING the account of the 
I VV v/ar between the British and the 

V»i£_,^ Boers contained in preceding 
pages of this volume the reader will 
observe that the war began on October 
nth, 1899. On that day the Boer 
Government sent their historic ulti- 
matum. Two days later the British 
agent left Pretoria, the capital of the 
Tiansvaal. Natal and Cape Colonv were 
invaded, and lyaing's Nek was occupied ; 
Mafeking and Kimberly were invested 
by the Boers, and an armored train with 
two guns was captured near Mafeking 
within the next two days. A combined 
movement was directed against the Brit- 
ish force of 4,000 men under General Sy- 
mons at Glencoe. Commandant Lucas 
Meyer made the attack on the 29th. Gen- 
eral Synions, the British commander, 
carried the hill on which the Boers had 
established themselves, captured their 
guns and drove them off, but he was 
himself mortally wounded and died a 
day or two afterwards. 

A detachment of Hussars was cap- 
tured while pursuing the retreating foe. 
IVIeanwhile, the Boers had seized the rail- 
way between Glencoe and Ladysmith, 
and were only dislodged after a stubborn 
fight at Elandslaagteon the 21st. On 
this occasion Commandant Viljoen was 

killed and two guns were taken by the 
39 



British. The attempt to isolate the Brit- 
ish force at Glencoe thus failed, but, as 
another attack was threatened, the Brit- 
ish force was compelled to retire and 
join the main body at Ladysmith, leav- 
ing the wounded at Dundee. 

To cover his retreat, General Sir 
George White had to fight again, at 
Reitfontein, on the 24th, and again the 
Boers were dislodged. The loss on both 
sides on this occasion was heavy. A 
little later Colonel Baden-Powell in- 
flicted some loss on Cronje's command 
in a brilliant sortie and bayonet charge 
at Mafeking. Meanwhile Ladysmith 
was gradually being invested by General 
Joubert, and the British suflfered great 
loss on October 30th. On that day about 
one thousand men, consisting of the 
Royal Irish Fusiliers, and the Glouces. 
tershire Regiment, with No. 10 Moun- 
tain Battery, were surrounded at Nich- 
olson's Nek and forced to capitulate. 

They were overcome after they had 
lost their ammunition through a stam- 
pede of the mule train The British 
troops at Colenso were on November 2d 
forced to retire over the Tugela bridge, 
and all communication between Lady- 
smith and the south was cut off. Also 
the bridges over the Orange River into 
Cape Colony were seized. Aliwal North, 
Jamestown and Colesburg were occupied 

609 



610 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



on the i8tli, and a considerable number 
of the Cape Colonists joined the Boers. 
The British then began an advance from 
the south, and Lord Methuen, command- 
ing at Orange River, pushed on, in an 
eflfort to relieve Kimberley, to Belmont, 
and on November 23d defeated a strong 
Boer force. Sixty- four wagons were 
taken and 50,000 rounds of ammunition, 
with 750 shells, were blown up. The 
British dealt another severe blow to the 
Boers at Enslin on the 25th, when the 
Boers fought under cover of a white flag. 

A Hard Fight. 

The position of Kimberley had much 
influence on the progress of the war. 
Cecil Rhodes went to the town on Oc- 
tober 1 2th, and pronounced it "as safe 
as Piccadilly." The force under Lord 
Methuen, five days after defeating the 
enemy at Belmont, effected the passage 
of the Modder River in the face of ei^ht 
thousand Boers in " one of the hardest 
and most trying fights in the annals of 
the British army." 

The arrival of Sir Redvers BuUer at 
Durham marked a new stage in the 
Ladysmith campaign. The Boers, after 
investing that place, had continued to 
spread south and toward the Tugela. 
Before the appearance of the British re- 
inforcements, they occupied Colenso, as 
well as Beacon Hill and the Mooi river. 
Among the prominent incidents of the 
British advance were a night attack on 
the Boers at Willow Grange and the 
armored train engagement at Chieve- 
ley, on November 15th, when Winston 
Churchill especially distinguished him- 
self. General Hildyard made an attack 
from Estcourt on Beacon Hill, and Gen- 
eral Joubert had to withdraw in the di- 
rection of Colenso and Ladysmith. On 



the last day of November Ladysmith 
was effectively shelled by the Boers from 
Lombard's Kop. 

On December 8 th the British stormed 
Lombard's Kop and captured a Boer 
gun. Two days later, General Gatacre 
attempted to surprise the Boer position 
at Stormberg, in Natal. The attempt 
resulted disastrously, his forces being 
raked by the Boers' rifle and artillery 
fire, without a possibility of replying. 
While the Boer loss in this engagement 
was slight, the British lost 687 ofiScers 
and men. 

Met with Heavy Losses. 

On the nth General Methuen, in at^:- 
tempting to relieve Kimberley, attacked 
the Boer position at Magersfontein, 
north of the Modder. The British were 
forced to retire with heavy losses. Gen- 
eral Wauchope and the Marquis of Wor- 
cester being killed. Two days later the 
Boers, who were advancing south in 
Cape Colony towards Naauwport, were 
driven back by General French, with a 
loss of forty. On the 15 th the British 
sustained another serious reverse. 

General Buller, in attempting to force 
a passage of the Tugela river at Colenso, 
was repulsed, with a loss of 1,097 offi- 
cers and men and eleven guns. Three 
days later the British War Office an- 
nounced that Lord Roberts would be 
sent to command in South Africa, with 
Lord Kitchener as chief of staff", and that 
100,000 men would be sent to the front. 

For nearly the whole of the following 
month the hostilities consisted chiefly 
in an occasional sortie and in more or 
less harmless artillery warfare. But on 
January 6th the Boers made a desperate 
attempt to take Ladysmith. As early 
as 2.30 A. M. they attacked two strong 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



611 



positions of the British at Caesar's Camp 
and Wagon Hill. The battle was fiercely 
fought on both sides, and the positions 
mentioned were captured and recaptured 
three times, the British at the end hold- 
ing their own and inflicting tremendous 
loss on the Boers. 

The attack continued until 7.30 P. M., 
and at dark the Boers were driven out 
at the point of the bayonet. The Brit- 
ish losses were 450 officers and men, and 
those of the Boers were thought to have 
been very much heavier. On the same 
day General French reported a "serious 
accident " at Colesberg ; a company of 
the Suffolk Regiment, with seven offi- 
cers, was captured, and more than a 
score of officers and men were killed. 
On this day also Generals Roberts and 
Kitchener reached Cape Town. 

Help for Ladysmith. 

On January 12th the British army, 
under General Warren and Lord Dun- 
donald, prepared for a general advance 
from Colenso to the relief of Ladysmith. 
They crossed the Tugela at Potgieter's 
and Trichardt's drifts, and Lord Dun- 
donald's mounted troops engaged in a 
successful action with the Boers near 
Acton Homes. On January 20th Gen- 
eral Clery, with a part of General War- 
ren's force, fought for thirteen hours, 
driving the Boers from hill to hill for 
three miles. Next day he pursued 
them two miles further. On the 21st 
the Boers resumed the bombardment of 
Ladysmith. 

On January 23d General Buller an- 
nounced the capture of Spion Kop, the 
key of the Boer position on the Upper 
Tugela ; but two days later the news 
was sent that he was obliged to give up 
that position. On February 27th it was 



learned that a supply train had reached 
General White during this engagement. 
The losses at Spion Kop in the attempt 
to relieve Ladysmith were 1,985, and 
the total loss of the British to that date 
was nearly 10,000. Rumor placed the 
Boer losses at Spion Kop at 1,700. 

Meanwhile the bombardment of Kim- 
berley was continued, and it was re- 
ported, though without foundation in 
fact, that Colonel Plumer had relieved 
Colonel Baden-Powell on January 23d. 
The great failure of General Buller's 
second attempt to relieve Ladysmith 
was followed by a withdrawal south of 
the Tugela on January 27th. 

Important Movements. 

Three days later General Buller, the 
undaunted, told his troops that he hoped 
to be in Ladysmith in a week, and on 
February 5th he again crossed the Tug- 
ela in a third attempt to relieve the be- 
leagured forces of General White. By 
the 9th he had recrossed to the south of 
the Tugela, being unable to make head- 
way against the strong Boer position at 
Vaal Krantz. 

With the operations leading up to the 
relief of Kimberley the whole course of 
the war seemed to change. The fact 
that Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener 
had arrived and had gone, early in Feb' 
mars', to the British headquarters south 
of the iModder River, seemed a good 
omen. From this point a movement for 
the invasion of the Orarge Free State, 
led by Lord Roberts, began on February' 
nth. An expedition under General 
Macdonald to Koodoesberg, fifteen miles 
to the westward, as been made to divert 
the Boers in that direction. 

On the 1 2th a force of cavalry, led by 
General French, who had made a bril- 



612 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Hant march from Colesberg to join Me- 
thuen's forces, made a dasli across the 
Riet river, forced a passage on the Mod- 
der river the following day, and on the 
15 th entered Kimberley, where he was 
met by Colonel Kekewich, who had 
forced his way out of the city. The 
Boer troops under General Cronje aban- 
doned their trenches at Magersfontein 
and retreated eastward towards Bloem- 
fontein. The same day Lord Roberts 
occupied Jacobsdal an important base 
of supj)lies for the Boers, southeast of 
Kimberley. To that place he transferred 
his headquarters. By this time General 
Cronje was in retreat towards Bloemfon- 
tein, pursued by General Kelly-Kenny. 

Oronje's Last Stand. 

On February 19th, the railway to 
Kimberley was open ; by this time Lord 
Roberts' force had moved up to Paarde- 
berg Drift, in the bed of the Modder 
river, where Cronje made his last stand 
and was surrounded by the British. 
After his request for an armistice had 
been refused, reinforcements under Gen- 
eral Botha had been driven off and all 
other assistance from the outside proved 
unavailing. General Cronje, with 4,660 
troops surrendered to Lord Roberts on 
February 27th. 

Meanwhile, on February 14th, Gen- 
eral Buller began his fourth advance to 
the relief of Ladysmith. Four days 
later he executed a flank movement and 
drove the Boers across the Tugela and 
occupied Hlwangwane Hill. On the 
20th General Hart occupied Colenso, 
and all the south side of the Tugela 
was held by General Buller, The next 
day General Warren crossed the river at 
Colenso, after slight resistance. It ap- 
pears that, although unich of Buller' s 



progress to Ladysmith was stubbornly 
resisted, it was by a diminishing num- 
ber of Boers, since many of them were 
being withdrawn to assist Cronje on the 
Modder river. 

On February 23d the Boers gave the 
town its final bombardment, for after a 
sharp engagement at Pieter's Station, 
on the 24th, the rest of the march north- 
ward was almost unopposed. On the 
28th Lord Dundonald entered Lady- 
smith, and on March ist. General Bul- 
ler visited the city ; the Boers raised the 
siege and hurriedly withdrew to the 
northward, lea^dng a vast amount of 
ammunition and supplies. During the 
final ten days of the Ladysmith cam- 
paign, General Buller's losses were 
about twenty-four hundred, and the en- 
tire cost of the Ladysmith relief from 
the beginning was about fifty-five hun- 
dred men. 

British Successes. 

While these stirring scenes were be- 
ing enacted on the Modder river and at 
Ladysmith, the British arms were also 
successful in other parts of South Africa. 
On February i6th General Brabant's 
horse force drove the Boers from a 
strong position at Dordrecht, in Cape 
Colony, after eight hours of hard fight- 
ing. Boer attacks on Mafeking on Feb- 
ruary 17th and 1 8th were repulsed with 
considerable loss to the attacking party. 
On February 25th General Gatacre's 
scouts suffered a severe reverse at the 
hands of the Boers near Stormberg-. 
On February 28th it was reported that 
General Cronje and his soldiers were on 
their way to Cape Town as prisoners of 
war. The same day General Clements 
entered Colesberg, where he met with 
an enthusiastic reception. 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



613 



March opened with rejoicing through- 
out the British Empire, and especially 
in London, over the relief of Ladysmith, 
for now it seemed evident that the war 
was drawing to a close. For such a 
hope there seemed good reasons, since 
the Boers were everywhere retreating, 
Ladysmith being free of them, General 
Brabant having dislodged them from 
Dordrecht and a little later put them to 
rout, and General Gatacre having en- 
tered Stormberg without opposition. 
Meanwhile Lord Roberts was pursuing 
the Boers towards Bloemfontein. On 
.March 7th, at Osfontein, he turned their 
flank on the Modder river and put Gen- 
erals Dewet and Delarey to rout. 

White Flag Dishonored. 

Every day the British approached 
nearer to the Free State capital, their 
way being stubbornly opposed by the 
Boers. The latter again resorted to their 
former tactics of firing on the British 
under cover of a white flag and using 
explosive bullets. On March 12th Gen- 
eral French, the Kimberley hero, again 
distinguished himself by his capture of 
hills commanding Bloemfontein. The 
next day Lord Roberts and the British 
troops occupied the Orange Free State 
capitol, which was formally surrendered 
to him. 

On the 13th a letter from Presidents 
Kruger and Steyn, relating to possible 
terms of peace, and Lord Salisbury's 
reply, rejecting the proposition for the 
independence of the two republics, were 
read in the House of Commons. The 
offer of the United States to assist in 
bringing about peace was also declined 
by the British Government. 

The entry of Lord Roberts into Bloem- 
fontein, followed as it was by the occu- 



pation of Bishof, produced a speedy re- 
sult of the highest importance. On the 
17th large numbers of Free State burg- 
hers surrendered, opened their shops, 
and went back to their farms, accepting 
British rule. Meanwhile the efforts to 
relieve Baden-Powel at Mafeking were 
redoubled. A column which included 
the Kimberley Light Horse had .started 
from the south, and Colonel Plumer ad- 
vanced from the north as far as Lobatsi, 
where he was repulsed on the 15 th and 
again, near Mafeking, on the 3 ist. Hav- 
ing received the submission of the Free 
Staters and established a stable condi- 
tion of affairs. Lord Roberts prepared to 
move on towards Pretoria. 

March closed with the death of Gen- 
eral Joubert on the 27th and the capture 
on the 31st at Korn Spruit of 400 men, 
including the loth Hussars and seven 
pieces of artillery. 

A Fresh Disaster. 

April opened with a disaster — that of 
Reddersburg, where on the 4th 500 men, 
including three companies of Irish Rifles 
and two of the 9th Mounted Infantry, 
were captured by the Boers The next 
day, at Boshof, the British captured a 
small company of Boers, and Colonel de 
Villebois-Mareuil, the French military 
expert, who had been General Joubert's 
chief of staff". 

On April 9th the British garrison at 
Wepener was isolated, and the siege 
against Colonel Dalgetty and his men 
began. On the next day they also at- 
tacked General Buller at Elaudslaagte, 
in Natal. On the nth General Gat- 
acre's recall to England was announced, 
and a week later the British War Offict 
made public a report from Lord Roberts, 
in which he severely criticised Generals 



614 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Warren and Buller and Major Thorny- 
croft in connection with the battle of 
Spion Kop. 

A little later General Warren was ap- 
pointed Military Governor of Griqua- 
land West. On April 22d Lord Roberts 
dispatched General Pole- Care w to the 
assistance of General Rundle, who was 
hard pressed by the Boers at Wepener. 
But Generals Hart and Brabant, who 
liad arrived before him, found the in- 
vestment abandoned and the Boers in 
full flight. Attempts to head them oflf 
as they retired were unavailing. 

Lord Roberts' Advance. 

On April 30th the long-expected ad- 
vance of Lord Roberts' force from 
Bloemfontein began. Brandfort was 
occupied on May 3d, and two days later 
the Vet River was reached, when after a 
sharp battle. General Mutton's mounted 
infantry turned the Boers' flank. The 
Boer army fell back, and Lord Robeits 
captured a quantity of stores at Smal- 
dell. Winburg was also occupied by 
General Ian Hamilton. On May 12th 
General Roberts, at the head of the 
British army, entered Kroonstad, the 
temporary capital of the Free State, 
without opposition. 

Hundreds of Free Staters were re- 
ported as being anxious to surrender. 
Meanwhile, General Buller began his 
advance from Ladysmith, capturing 
Dundee, Glencoe and Newcastle, the 
Boers evacuating their positions on the 
Biggarsberg. On May 17th, Lindley, 
the latter temporary capital of the Free 
State, was occupied. Lord Roberts also 
announced the capture of three Boer 
Generals. 

But the piece of news that produced 
the greatest enthusiasm on the part of 



the sympathizers with the British cause 
was that of the relief of Mafeking on 
May 1 8th. Colonel B. T. Mahon, with 
his troops from the south, joined forces 
with Colonel Plumer on the 15th, and 
after hard fighting for several days, 
entered Mafeking unopposed. Colonel 
Baden-Powell, the gallant defender, was 
at once promoted from the rank of 
Lieutenant-Colonel to that of Major- 
General. 

Retreat of Boers. 

On the approach of Lord Roberts' 
army the Boers abandoned their strongly, 
fortified positions on the Rhenoster 
river and retired across the Vaal river, 
partly destroying the railway bridge at 
Vereeniging as they crossed. On the 
Queen's birthday. May 24th, and the 
day following, the left wing crossed the 
Vaal at Parys, west of the railway 
bridge. On May 27th the main body 
of the British army crossed the river un- 
opposed, near Vereeniging, and camped 
on the north bank. Roberts' army 
marched twenty miles on May 28th, 
reaching Klip River Station, within 
eighteen miles of Johnannesburg. On 
the following night the city was cap- 
tured by the British without serious 
opposition. Pretoria, the capital of the 
Transvaal, fell before Lord Roberts' 
advance, and the last blow was struck 
in the conquest of the South African 
Republics. 

Yet desultory fighting continued 
around Pretoria, the Boers retreating, 
then turning upon their enemy and con- 
tinuing their struggle to save the inde- 
pendence of their country. In these 
bloody engagements the British, for the 
most part, had the advantage and the 
hopeless nature of the conflict became, 



I.ATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



615 



so far as the Boers were concerned, more 
apparent every day. 

There were many sympathizers with 
the British troops at Pretoria. Lord 
Roberts entered the town amidst the 
acclamations of a throng of people, who 
appeared to rejoice at the near prospect 
of an end of the struggle and the dawn 
of peace. 

A Conspiracy. 

Lord Roberts reported to the War 
Office from Pretoria on August loth 
that a plot to carry him off had been 
discovered. The conspirator against 
whom the principal indictment was laid 
was Lieutenant Cordua, an officer of the 
Staats artillery of the South African 
Republic. On giving his jDarole he was 
allowed to go at liberty in Pretoria. 
With the other conspirators he was 
placed on trial. The prisoners at first 
pleaded guilty, but were advised by their 
counsel to withdraw the plea and to 
take their trial. From the evidence it 
appeared that Cordua, a number of for- 
eigners formerly in the Boer service 
and some Boers formed a plan by which 
the headquarters of Lord Roberts were 
to be surrounded while the attention of 
the troops was diverted by the noise of 
firing in another part of Pretoria. Re- 
sistance was to be overcome by force 
and the commander-in-chief carried off, 
if possible. 

Lieutenant Cordua and another of the 
conspirators started off to communicate 
personally with General Botha. When 
all the arrangements were nearly com- 
plete, information was brought to the 
British headquarters' staff, one of the 
conspirators having divulged the secret 
to his sweetheart. The court, on Au- 
gust 22d, after forty-five minutes' delib- 



eration, found Lieutenant Cordua guilty 
on the charge of breaking his parole and 
entering into a conspiracy to kidnap 
Lord Roberts. Sentence was deferred 
until the finding of the court was con- 
firmed by the commander-in-chief, the 
judge having announced that the pen- 
alty of the crime would be death. 

Lieutenant Cordua was shot on the 
afternoon of August 24 th, Lord Roberts 
having confirmed the sentence of death 
imposed upon the lieutenant on convic- 
tion of being a ringleader in the plot to 
abduct him and kill British officers. 

Under date of September i. Lord 
Roberts reported : " I have to-day issued 
under Her Majesty's warrant of July 4, 
proclamations announcing that the 
Transvaal will henceforth form a part 
of Her Majesty's dominions." 

The Transvaal Annexed. 

The annexation of the Transvaal 
meant in the eyes of the British Gov- 
ernment and authorities that the coun- 
try was now an integral part of the 
British dominions, and all the inhaoit- 
ants British subjects. The British law 
lays down that any one taken in arms 
against the Queen, representing the 
constituted authority, is a rebel and 
traitor, and liable to the maximum pen- 
alty of death, under military law he 
may be court-martialed and shot in- 
stantly. 

Whether Lord Roberts meant to 
adopt this course was doubtful. But 
the proclamation was a precautionary 
measure to make his legal position 
secure should he decide it necessary to 
treat the Boers as rebels at a moment's 
notice. 

The next event of importance in the 
Transvaal was the sudden disappearance 



616 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



of President Kruger. The following 
elespatch was received at the War Office 
in L/ondon from Lord Roberts, Septem- 
ber 13th : 

" Kruger has fled to Lorenzo Mar- 
ques, and Botha has been obliged to 
give over the command of the Boer 
army, temporarily, to Vilejon, on ac- 
count of ill health. In consequence of 
this I have circulated a proclamation as 
follows : 

" ' The late President Kruger, with 
relics and archives of the South African 
Republic, has crossed the Portuguese 
frontier and arrived at Lorenzo Mar- 



ques, with the view of sailing fot 
Europe at an early date; Kruger has 
formally resigned the position which he 
held as president of the South African 
Republic, thus severing his official con- 
nection with the Transvaal. Kruger's 
actions show how hopeless, in his opin- 
ion, is the war which has now been car- 
ried on for nearly a year, and his deser- 
tion of the Boer cause should make 
clear to his fellow burghers that it is 
useless to continue the struggle any 
longer.'" 

Ex-President Kruger was offered an 
asylum in Holland. 



MASSACRES OF FOREIGNERS BY THE CHINESE. 



ARLY in 1900 the attention of our 
own country and of European 
nations was turned toward 
China, and reports of the massacre of 
the native Christians of China, and of 
the foreign residents, were received with 
a thrill of horror. It was known that 
the bloodthirsty actors in this shocking 
tragedy were Boxers, the appalling de- 
tails of which were scarcely believed 
until evidence was forthcoming that 
could not be questioned. 

As to what the Boxer is, competent 
testimony comes from various sources. 
Edwin Wildman, late vLe-consul of the 
United States at Hong Kong, says : 

"They are divided into lodges, and 
have common signs and pass-words 
known only to themselves. They have 
certain methods of interrogating each 
other and recognize peculiar manners in 
placing cups and dishes at the table ; of 
wearing their garments and saluting 
each other. They hold their meetings 
usually in secluded places in the dead 
of the night and draw blood from their 



bodies, mixing it with water and pledg- 
ing each other to oaths of vengeance 
against their enemies. The Boxers 
have adopted a flag bearing the motto : 

' Up With the Ching Dynasty 
And Down With the Foreigner.* 

The Boxer Society was evolved out 
of that celebrated secret association 
which is known in the North by the 
name of Peh-hen-hui (White Lily So- 
ciety) and in the South by the San-hoh- 
hui (Triad Society). Like its mother 
association, it is a politico-religious or- 
ganization with very simple tenets and 
strict internal regulations, the details of 
which are a sealed book to those not be- 
longing to it. 

All that is known to outsiders is that 
its members practice the art of boxing 
and profess that in virtue of a certain 
incantation which they recite mentally, 
their person is rendered proof to bullets 
and fatal weapons. The first historical 
mention of them occurs about the mid- 
dle of the eighteenth century under the 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



617 



reign of the Emperor Kienlung, when 
their organization went by the name of 
I-hwa-men-kiao (Patriotic, Harmonious 
Sect). 

But it was not until the time of the 
Emperor Kiaking that the Boxers began 
to attract the attention of the ruling 
power. At the beginning of that Em- 
peror's reign they were discovered to 
have obtained a strong footing in the 
country districts on the borders of Shan- 
tung and Honan, and their activity so 
rapidly increased that their sect or asso- 
ciation was interdicted in 1809; but in 
spite of occasional persecutions they 
have since then steadily increased in 
power and numbers. 

The Boxers. 

In the early days of its existence, the 
political tendency of the association was 
antagonistic to the existing dynasty, and 
its whole energies seem to have been 
directed to its overthrow. Latterly, 
however, taking .shrewd advantage of 
the growing friction between native 
Christians and non-converts, the Boxers 
have identified themselves with the lat- 
ter's cause and adopted opposition to the 
foreign creed and its professors as their 
principal creed. Still more recently, to 
ingratiate themselves with those in 
power, they adopted the popular legend 
of "Hin'g-Tsing mieh yang" (Up with 
the dynasty ! Down with foreigners !") 

As to the alleged close connection be- 
tween the Pekin court and the Boxers, 
there can be no doubt on the subject. 
In the first place it is a significant cir- 
cumstance that the open manifestation 
of anti-foreign activity by the Boxers 
coincides with the appearance of Prince 
Tuan on the political stage at Pekin at 
the beginning of the year 1900. We 



may here refer to an incidental de- 
scription of that important personage. 
'' Princo Tuan," we are told, "is acom« 
paratively joung man of a little past 
fifty years, strongly built and with a 
commanding presence." During the 
last few years he has been assiduously 
cultivating the acquaintance of all 
classes of men, and there are said to be 
several other traits in his character that 
distinguish him from the other mem- 
bers of the imperial family. 

Is Seeking a Throne. 

Evidently he is a man of lofty ambi- 
tions, for it is widely whispered that 
since the appointment of his son as heir 
apparent his aspirations mount no lower 
than the imperial throne itself. Be that 
as it may, there can be no room for 
doubt that he is deeply implicated in 
the Boxer agitation. To make his con- 
nection with the Boxers still more clear, 
it is stated that their leader, a notorious 
adventurer who made himselt conspicu- 
ous in connection with an insurrection 
in Honan about 1888, has been staying 
with the Prince at his palace in Pekin, 
during which time they are supposed 
to have secretly plotted and intrigued 
together. 

It is highly probable, as is generally 
believed in well-known circles, that the 
ambitious but inexperienced Prince is a 
dupe in the hands of the artful I-hwa 
leader, who has an object of his own in 
view in the great conspiracy, which is 
no other than getting himself in power 
at court. Whichever may be the greater 
dupe, there seems to be no doubt that 
these two men have been working hand 
in hand. 

Numerous revolts instigated by the 
Boxers occurred between 1889 and 1895, 



618 



I.ATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



and, as foreign aggression on Chinese 
territory became more marked in the 
succeeding years, the society began a 
relentless warfaie against missions, 
schools and hospitals, which finally cul- 
minated in the general uprising of 1900, 
in which missionaries and merchants 
alike were massacred and European and 
American property laid waste and de- 
stroyed. 

For almost a year before these devel- 
opments in China Christendom had been 
shocked with scories of outrage upon 
missionaries perpetrated by the Boxers, 
of the Society of the Righteous Fist, 
or of the Big Sword. Early in the 
spring of 1900 these stories increased in 
number and in April and May, 1900, 
scarce a day passed without rumors 
from China of repeated atrocities. The 
Boxer movement spread rapidly until 
the powers were aroused by the begin- 
ning of wholesale slaughter of Chris- 
tians, native and foreign, and the de- 
struction of churches and missions of 
all denominations. What follows is a 
chronology of events attending the 
Boxer agitation. 

Complaints of Outrages. 

Early in June complaints of Boxer 
outrages increased. Russia offered to 
put down the Boxer uprising. Many 
mission stations were reported destroyed. 
United States Minister Conger sent a 
message to Washington complaining 
that the Pekin government was inactive. 

On June 6th the mission at Yan Tin 
was burned and missionary Robinson 
was killed and mutilated. Immedi- 
ately reports from China indicated a 
dangerous increase in Boxer disturb- 
ances. Great Britain landed troops at 
Cheefoo. 



On June 8 American missionaries in 
various parts of China asked President 
McKinley for protection. The Chinese 
foreign office refused the use of the rail- 
road to Pekin to foreign troops. Next 
came the news that the City of Tung 
Chow, near Pekin, was burned and 
twenty missionaries killed. China pro- 
tested against the presence of foreign 
troops. 

Attacks on Foreigners. 

Early in June, Chinese mobs com- 
pelled all foreigners to seek refuge in 
the legations, which were surrounded by 
armed Boxers. The threatening aspect 
of affairs in Pekin caused great anxiety 
among the European Powers and in the 
United States. The Chinese Emperor 
petitioned the Powers to aid him in 
quelling the Boxer uprising. It was 
announced that Prince Tuan had been 
made Minister of Foreign Affairs. The 
Empress Dowager forbade foreign troops 
to enter Pekin. On June 15th the Japa- 
nese legation was burned and the Chan- 
cellor killed. On the same date, 4,000 
Russian troops were landed at Taku. 
The next day Pekin mobs attacked for- 
eigners and besieged the legations. 
England immediately ordered six regi- 
ments from India to China, and 1200 
American troops were landed at Taku. 

On June 21st, the American Consul- 
ate at Tien-Tsin was destroyed. 
United States Admiral Kempffurgently 
asked for more troops and ships, and 
the Ninth United States Infantry sailed 
for Taku. About this time, United 
States Admiral Remey was ordered to 
China. The Chinese minister at Wash- 
ington asked for an armistice, which 
was refused. The next day, June 26th, 
3,000 Japanese troops were landed at 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



619 



Taku. Admiral Seymour, (British) 
with an expedition, endeavored to 
reach Pekin, but was compelled to re- 
turn to Tien-Tsin. It was stated that 
60,000 Boxers were surrounding Pekin. 
On July 14th, occurred the battle at 
Tien-Tsin, in which it was reported 
several thousand Chinese were slain. 
Admiral KempfF announced that the 
foreign ministers in Pekin had been 
ordered to leave, but refused. It was 
also stated that the Boxer uprising was 
spreading and southern provinces were 
in revolt. 

Determined Fight. 

In the first day's combined attack 
upon the native city over forty guns 
bombarded the Chinese positions. The 
fighting was most determined, and the 
allies' losses were heavy. Eight Chinese 
guns were captured, and the Chinese 
were driven out of the west arsenal after 
a fierce cannonade. 

The guns of the allies did immense 
damage to the native city, causing many 
large conflagrations, and finally silenced 
the majority of the enemy's guns simul- 
taneously. Then 1500 Russians, assisted 
by small parties of Germans and French, 
assaulted and captured eight guns that 
were in position on the railway embank- 
ment and the fort, the magazine of 
which the French subsequently blew up. 

A body of American, British, Japanese 
and Austrian troops then made a sortie, 
and attacked the west arsenal, which 
the Chinese had reoccupied. After three 
hours of the hardest fighting yet exper- 
ienced, the Chinese fled. 

When the arsenal had been evacuated 
by the Chinese, the Americans, French, 
Japanese and Welsh Fusiliers advanced 
toward the native city, and joined with 



the othet attacking forces. The Japa- 
nese infantry and a mounted battery 
advanced to the foot of the walls, sup- 
ported by the Americans and French. 
Despite valiant attacks, the allies were 
only able to hold the positions gauied 
outside the walls preparatory to renew- 
ing the assault in the morning. 

The casualties sustained by the allies 
were exceedingly heavy, especially those 
to the Americans, French and Japanese. 

Russians made up the right wing of 
the international column in the advance 
on the native town of Tien-Tsin. As 
they moved steadily over the open plain 
toward the entrance to the city the 
Chinese shelled steadily from the walls. 
The Russians lost 300 killed and 
wounded. 

A Combined Attack. 

During the night the Japanese, Ameri- 
cans and some English troops attacked 
the city on the left wing. The Japanese 
shelled the walls, and, making a breach, 
gallantly entered, first of all the inter- 
national troops. The Americans occu- 
pied the most dangerous position and 
were forced to advance over absolutely 
unprotected ground. The Ninth In- 
fantry and a handful of marines lost 
many killed and wounded. Colonel 
Liscum was killed while leading his 
men. 

Li Hung Chang, the famous diplomat 
viceroy, having been summoned to 
Pekin from Canton, prepared to make 
his journey, which he declared was in 
the interests of peace. In reply to the 
British, French, American, German, 
and Portuguese consuls, who officially 
visited him in a body. Viceroy Li Hung 
Chang insisted that his departure for 
the north had a twofold object, namely, 



620 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



to save the lives of the foreign Ministers 
in Pekin and to arrange the best terms 
of peace possible with the allied Powers. 
For many days there was the utmost 
anxiety in our own country and in 
Europe concerning the representatives 
of the European Powers and the United 
States Minister, who, with the attaches 
of their offices, were shut up in the 
legations at Pekin, and were threatened 
with wholesale massacre by the Boxers. 
The air was full of conflicting reports, 
and definite intelligence was anxiously 
awaited. The allied Powers strained 
every nerve to reach Pekin with a 
rescuing force, and either save the 
foreigners there imprisoned or learn 
their fate. 

Cheering News. 

General Chaffee was in command of 
the American troops, and under date of 
August 15th, our government at Wash- 
ington received from him the following 
cheering despatch : 

"We entered Legation grounds at 
five o'clock last night with Fourteenth 
and light battery. Eight woimded 
during day's fighting. Otherwise all 
well. "Chaffee." 

On the 19th a despatch was received 
from Admiral Remey which contained 
much interesting information in a few 
words : 

"Taku, Aug. 1 8.— Telegraph line to 
Pekin is interrupted. Information from 
Japanese sources indicates that the Em- 
press Dowager is detained in the inner 
city, which is being bombarded by allies. 
Chaffee reports that he entered Legation 
grounds on the evening of 14th. Eight 
wounded during day's fighting, other- 
wise all well. "Remey." 



The startling feature of the despatch 
is that fighting within the city of Pekin 
was continuing, according to the advices 
of Admiral Remey. The inner, or, as 
it is popularly known, the Forbidden 
City, evidently had not been taken. It 
is surrounded by a massive v/all of solid 
masonry more than twenty feet high, 
and it was not regarded as surprising 
that the Chinese should make their final 
stand within its shadows. 

Prior to the receipt of the despatch 
it was accepted generally as a fact that 
the Dowager Empress, in company with 
the Emperor and a large suite, had left 
Pekin. While no surprise was evinced 
at the statement of Admiral Remey 
that the inner city was being bombarded, 
some- concern was expressed lest the 
final stand of the Chinese troops within 
what they regarded as most sacred pre- 
cincts would prove a serious affair. 

City of Pekin. 

Pekin comprises practically four citiei 
in one. In extent of area it is about 
the size of New York city. The four 
segments of it are the Chinese city, the 
Tartar City, the Imperial city and the 
Forbidden City. The last is the "Inner 
city," mentioned in Admiral Remey's 
depatch, and is the residence of the 
Emperor and the seat of tlie Imperial 
court. Nobody is allowed within its 
massive walls except by special permis- 
sion of the Emperor or Empress Dow- 
ager. The foreigners who have entered - 
its gates are comparatively few in num- 
ber. The Imperial city is occupied 
only by the highest Chinese officials and 
members and attaches of the Imperial 
Court. 

The Japanese Minister at Washington 
received the following under date of 



IvAlKST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



621 



August i/tli from the Japanese Consul 
at Chee-Foo : 

" The foreign forces attacked on the 
eastern side of Pekin Wednesday morn- 
ing. The enemy obstinately resisted. 
In the evening the Japanese blew up the 
Chiao Yang Gate and the Tung Chih 
Gate of the Tartar city and succeeded 
in entering. In • the meantime other 
foreign forces entered the Chinese city 
by the Tung Pien Gate. Detachments 
were sent immediately to the legations 
and opened communications. The Min- 
isters and staffs were found safe. The 
Japanese loss was over lOO, including 
three officers. The Chinese loss was 
computed at about 400." 

Foreigners Safe. 

Substantially the information con- 
tained in the above despatch was re- 
ceived by the Associated Press direct 
from Tokio. It contained the explicit 
and reassuring statement that "the 
Ministers and staffs were found safe." 
The officials of the Japanese legation 
were much gratified at the conspicuous 
gallantry disj)layed by the Mikado's 
forces during the advance upon Pekin, 
and they received with unconcealed 
pride the congratulations not only of 
the officials of our Government, but also 
of the diplomatic representatives of 
other countries at the capital. 

Another account is as follows, fur- 
nishing additional particulars : 

"The American and Russian flags 
were planted on the east wall of Pekin 
at II o'clock this morning (August 
14th). The Indian troops entered the 
British Legation at one o'clock and the 
Americans at three. There was a joy- 
ful reception from the wall. 

" The emaciated tenants could have 



lasted but little longer. They had only 
three days' rations. The Chinese had 
been attacking furiously for two days. 
Four thousand shell fell in the Legation 
during the siege. Sixty-five were killed 
and 160 wounded. 

"The Japanese began the battle be- 
fore daylight. The plan was to make a 
general attack on the 15th, and the 
troops were arriving at camp, five miles 
east, all night. They were completely 
exhausted, and slept in the corn fields 
in the rain. 

Allies Press On. 

"The Generals, however, alarmed at 
the sounds of a heavy attack on the 
Legations, nushed forward independ- 
ently, the b.itish, Americans and French 
on the left of the river and the Russians 
and Japanese on the right. Beginning 
at two o'clock in the morning, the Jap- 
anese diverted the brunt of the resist- 
ance to the northern city, their artillery 
engaging the Chinese heavily there. 

*'The Americans and British met 
with but little resistance until they 
entered the city, where there was street 
fighting. Reilly's Battery attempted to 
breach the inner wall. The troops 
finally entered the foreign settlement 
through the canal. Company B, Four- 
teenth United States Infantry, planted 
its flag on the outer wall, Musician 
Titus scaling the wall with a rope, by 
means of which the others climbed to 
the top." 

Following the capture of Pekin effiDrts 
were made to restore peace and order in 
China. Germany took a firm stand in 
demanding the punishment of all offi- 
cials and others who were in any way 
concerned in the murder of the German 
Ambassador, Baron Von Ketteler, who 



622 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



was inhumanly put to death on June 
i6th. 

A proposition from Emperor William 
II was submitted to the Powers, 
but this was rejected by the United 
States, the object of our government 



being to avoid all complications in the 
settlement of the Chinese question. 
Germany modified her demands and an 
agreement was reached, under the terms 
of which the United States troops began 
to leave Pekin on October 4th. 



THE GREAT GALVESTON DISASTER. 




^O calamity that ever visited this 
country was more destructive 
of life and property than the 
hurricane which swept over 
the city of Galveston on September 8th. 
For several days the weather reports 
had indicated a coming storm of great 
severity, but the people of the fated city 
/elt no serious alarm. .Suddenly they 
were overwhelmed by the waters rush- 
ing from the Gulf, driven by the fury of 
the winds. 

It would be useless to attempt to con- 
vey any adequate idea of the heartrend- 
ing scenes that followed the invasion of 
the flood. The whole town was over- 
whelmed, and it is safe to say that there 
was not a building in the whole city 
which was not either destroyed or 
damaged. The first reports indicated 
the loss of several hundred lives. The 
number grew to a thousand. Then it 
grew to two thousand. Finally it was 
stated that five thousand persons lost 
their lives either by drowning or by in- 
juries received from falling buildings or 
floating debris. Still the horror grew, 
until the Governor of Texas expressed 
the opinion that at Galveston and other 
places on the coast, 12,000 persons lost 
their lives as the result of the hurricane. 
Families were rent asunder, husbands 
and wives were separated ; in some in- 
stances whole families of half a dozen 
or more were swept away, and in other 
instances only one or two members of 



large families escape^- Many persons 
who had lived in comfort all their lives 
were reduced to poverty and want in a 
moment. Business men found their 
factories and stores had been swept 
away and they were compelled to begin 
life over again. 

Heartrending details were furnished 
the public concerning the awful devas- 
tation and the terrible calamity which 
overtook thousands of families in the 
storm-stricken city. 

The whole country sprang to the aid 
of the sufferers. Train loads of provi- 
sions and clothing were hurried to the 
scene of the disaster, and hundreds of 
thousands of dollars were contributed, 
these acts of beneficence proving how 
deep and heartfelt was the sympathy 
for those suddenly plunged into want 
and sorrow. Nurses and doctors went 
from various cities in the North, South 
and West, and all that human skill and 
power could do to mitigate the suffer- 
ings of the victims was rendered by 
willing hands and hearts. 

Galveston is situated on an island. 
It is noted for many peculiarities, there 
being among other matters of import- 
ance, about fifty millionaires, the richest 
city, per capita, in America; many mag- 
nificent dwellings and imposing public 
buildings. It is called the "Oleander 
City'' on account of the vast quantities 
of that beautiful plant everywhere visi- 
ble, whole streets being lined with it. 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



623 



The whole civilized world was 
shocked at the assassination of Hum- 
bert I, King of Italy, on the 29th of 
July, 1900. He was born March 14, 
' 1844, and was the son of King Victor 
Emmanuel and of Queen Adeliade of 
Austria. At the battle of Custozza, in 
1866, he acted as a lieutenant-general. 
In 1868 he was married to his cousin- 
german, Maria Margaret of Savoy, and 
in 1878 he succeeded his father as 
King. 

The intelligence of King Humbert's 
untimely death was received through- 
out Europe with profound dismay, as 
it was thought to indicate a wide-spread 
conspiracy to assassinate crowned heads. 
It was considered proof positive that 
the spirit of anarchy was rife in many 
parts of Europe, and that the emissaries 
of destruction had found a lodgment 
in America, as the assassination of King 
Humbert was known to have been 
planned in Patterson, New Jersey. The 
dastardly crime had the effect of re- 
doubling the vigilance with which 
European sovereigns are guarded. 

Presidential Election of 1900. 

After an exciting and hard-fought 
campaign the Republican party was 
successful in the Presidential election 
of 1900, President McKinley being re- 
elected by an overwhelming majority, 
both of the electoral college and the 
popular vote. McKinley carried six 
States that elected Bryan electors in 
1896, namely, Kansas, Nebraska, South 
Dakota, Wyoming, Washington and 
Utah, and lost one State, Kentucky. 
The six States thus gained have 32 
electoral votes, while Kentucky has 13, 
a net gain of 19 over 1896. In the 
electoral college McKinley had 292 



votes and Bryan 152, while McKinley's 
popular majority was over 700,000. 

The census of 1890 showed a popu- 
lation in the United States of nearly 
63,000,000 ; the census of 1900 figured 
up a grand total of 76,215,129. 

Death of Queen Victoria. 

On the 22nd of January, 1901, oc- 
curred the death of Victoria, Queen of 
Great Britain and Ireland and Empress 
of India. She was born May 24, 1819^ 
and was the only child of Edward^ 
Duke of Kent, a son of George III, and 
Maria Louisia Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, 
who was a sister of Leopold I, of 
Belgium. 

On the death of her uncle, William 
IV, she succeeded to the throne on the 
20th of June, 1837, and was crowned 
Jane 28, 1838. In February, 1840, she 
was married to Prince Albert of Saxe- 
Coburg Gotha, with whom she lived 
happily and in whom she found a prud- 
ent counsellor. She was the mother of 
nine children, the eldest of whom came 
to the throne at her death as King 
Edward VII. 

The reign of Queen Victoria was the 
longest and most prosperous in English 
history. She was endowed with many 
eminent virtues, was a woman of pure 
and blameless life, adorned the station 
she occupied rather than being elevated 
by it, and left behind her a memory^ 
that will long be revered by the mil- 
lions of her subjects. 

The war between the British and the 
Boers was practically ended by the gen- 
eralship of lyord Roberts, commander 
of the British forces. The main armies 
of the Boers were scattered, leaving only 
a few guerillas in the field. 



624 



LATEST EVENTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



President McKinley's Second 
Inauguration. 

With a superb military and civil 
demonstration which drew a vast con- 
course of people to Washington, Presi- 
dent McKinley was inaugurated the sec- 
ond time on March 4th, 1901. No 
pageant on so grand a scale ever before 
attended any inauguration. Hon. The- 
odore Roosevelt, of New York, took the 
oath of office as Vice-President. 

In his inaugural address Mr. McKin- 
ley spoke as follows: "When we as- 
sembled here on March 4, 1897, there 
was great anxiety with regard to our 
currency and credit. None exists now. 

"Four years ago we stood on the 
brink of war without the people know- 
ing it and without any preparation or 
effort at preparation for the impending 
peril. I did all that in honor could be 
done to avert the war, but without 
avail. It became inevitable ; and the 
Congress at its first regular session, 
without party division, provided money 
in anticipation of the crisis. It came. 
The result was signally favorable to 
American arms, and in the highest 
degree honorable to the government. 
It imposed upon us obligations from 
which we cannot escape." 

Capture of Aguinaldo. 

On Thursday, March 28th, General 
Emilio Aguinaldo was captured. Gen- 
eral Frederick Funston, having learned 
of Aguinaldo's whereabouts, took a 
detachment of American soldiers and 
natives, and in due time arrived at the 
village where Aguinaldo was concealed. 
The Tagalos went ahead to greet 
General Aguinaldo, and the column 
followed, finally arriving at Palanan. 

General Aguinaldo's household troops, 



fifty men in neat uniforms of blue and 
white and wearing straw hats, lined up 
to receive the newcomers. General 
Funston's men crossed the river in small 
boats, formed on the bank, and marched 
to the right and then in front of the 
insurgent grenadiers. The Tagalogs 
entered the house where General Agui- 
naldo was. Suddenly the Spanish offi- 
cer, noticing that General Aguinaldo's 
aide was watching the Americans suspi- 
ciously, exclaimed : ' ' Now, Macabebes, 
go for them ! " The Macabebes opened 
fire, but their aim was rather ineffective, 
and only three insurgents were killed. 
The rebels returned the fire. 

On hearing the firing, General Agui- 
naldo, who evidently thought his men 
were merely celebrating the arrival of 
reinforcements, ran to the window and 
shouted : — " Stop that foolishness ! Quit 
wasting ammunition ! " 

Hilario Placido, one of the Tagalog 
officers and a former insurgent major, 
who was wounded in the lung by the 
fire of the Kansas regiment at the battle 
of Caloocan, threw his arms around 
General Aguinaldo, exclaiming : " You 
are a prisoner of the Americans." 

Colonel Simeon Villia, the rebel chief 
of staff, Major Alambra and others 
attacked the men who were holding 
General Aguinaldo. Hilario Placido 
shot Colonel Villia in the shoulder. 
Major Alambra jumped out of the win- 
dow and attempted to cross the river. 
It is supposed that he was drowned. 
Five other insurgent officers fought for 
a few minutes and then fled, making 
their escape. When the firing began 
General Funston assumed command and 
directed the attack on the house, person- 
ally assisting in the capture of General 
Aeuinaldo. 



ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT McKlNLEY. 



625 



President McKinley, the third Chief 
Magistrate of the United States to be 
assassinated, was shot twice by an Anar- 
chist on September 6, 1901. The man 
gave his name as Leon Czolgosz. His 
parents were foreigners, but he was born 
in the United States. The wounds 
were inflicted by a 32-calibre revolver. 

The shooting occurred in the Temple 
of Music of the Pan-American Exposi- 
tion at Buffalo. It had been planned 
in the most cold blooded manner. An 
organ recital had just been given. Sur- 
rounded by thousands, with the plaudits 
of the admiring multitude ringing in 
his ears, the President was shaking 
hands with those who pressed around 
him. 

Carried Concealed Revolver. 

Secret service men and local detec- 
tives had been watching a man whose 
actions had aroused their suspicions. 
He shook hands with the President, and 
passed on. The next man in line had 
his right hand concealed in a sling. 
While he was grasping the President's 
hand with his left, two shots suddenly 
rang out, and Mr. McKinley staggered 
back into the arms of bystanders. The 
sling had concealed a revolver, and the 
weapon had been discharged while al- 
most touching the President's body. 

One ball entered Mr. McKinley's 
breast and glanced off, inflicting only a 
flesh wound. It was extracted. The 
other entered the abdomen and perfor- 
ated the walls of the stomach. The 
surgeons cut for this bullet, but were 
unable to find it. 

A wave of popular grief and conster- 
nation swept over the country at the 
news. 

The murderer narrowly escaped l)'nch- 
40 



ing. He was beaten and buffeted by the 
crowd, and the Buffalo police had diffi- 
culty getting him in safety to his cell. 
So excited did the crowds that thronged 
Buffalo's streets become that for a time 
the authorities were contemplating call- 
ing out the militia. The whole civil- 
ized world united in angry condemnation 
of the horrible deed, and from all the 
governments came messages of sympa- 
thy for the illustrious victim and of 
execration on the head of the cowardly 
murderer. 

The Final Scenes. 

For nearly a week strong hopes were 
entertained of Mr. McKinley's recovery. 
One bullet was extracted but the other 
could not be found. The high hopes 
were suddenly blasted and one week from 
the day of the shooting the President 
suffered a relapse which ended in death 
on the morning of September 14th. 

Obsequies of the most sorrowful and 
imposing character followed in Buffalo, 
in Washington and at Canton, Ohio, 
where the body was interred. Members 
of the Cabinet and a hostof other celeb- 
rities testified by their presence their 
respect for Mr. McKinley and their 
admiration for his noble virtues and 
exalted character. 

Vice-President Roosevelt took the 
oath of office as President. The cere- 
mony took place at Buffalo on the day 
of President McKinley's death, and was 
solemnly impressive. 

The assassin was convicted of murder 
in the first degree and sentenced to be 
executed in the week beginning October 
28, 1901. The night following he was 
removed to Auburn penitentiary. Ar- 
riving at the prison, he collapsed with 
terror. 



APPENDIX B. 

Canada in the Nineteenth Century. 



IT may strike citizens of other 
countries as a somewhat large 
assumptiou, nevertheless it may 
be confidently claimed, that in no 
other country has constitutional gov- 
ernment made such solid and lasting 
progress, during the century, as in 
Canada. More than that, it may be 
claimed that not only has Canada led 
the way — she has actually forced the 
way and is still well in the van. 

This is not intended to carry with it 
any disparagement of the American 
Constitution. That wonderful docu- 
ment is a product of the last century ; it 
was born full-grown. It seems to have 
been the design of the Fathers to 
make change as difficult as possible. 
They made it almost impossible, and 
the present situation is a testimonial 
at once to the perspicuity of the framers 
of the Constitution and the law-abid- 
ingness of the people who live under it. 
In Canada the situation as to Constitu- 
tional changes is very different. There 
is aothing that cannot be changed at 
the will of the Canadian Parliament, 
or of the Imperial Parliament, and the 
changes during the century have been 
many and important. 

It is a mistake frequently made by 
historians, to assume that the modern 
British Colonial system — at once the 
wonder and envy of, and the greatest 
fact in, the world — is due to the exercise 
of wisdom forced upon the British gov- 
ernment by the loss of the American 
Colonies. Nothing of the kind. The 
British government's treatment of its 
colonies aftar the American Revolution 



was, if possible, still more arrogant and 
stupid than it had been before. Nearly 
every one of the blunders of adminis- 
tration that drove the Americans into 
revolt was repeated toward Canada. 
The attempt to rule the colonies from 
Downing street was persisted in for 
fifty years, and it was not abandoned 
until the flag of rebellion had been 
raised and it was seen that the choice 
lay between reform and perpetual fer- 
ment. 

The concession of responsible gov- 
ernment — /. ^., absolute freedom from 
dictation by the British government or 
Parliament in domestic affairs — was first 
made to Canada. It was made in full 
view of the probability — nay, many 
statesmen thought it was a certainty — 
that the concession would lead to speedy 
severance of the tie between the colony 
and the mother country. The exact 
contrary has been the case. With the 
colonies satisfied and settling their own 
quarrels the British Empire has leapt 
into new life. 

The Colonial Empire is no longer 
thought a burden, but it is recognized 
that it is the Colonial Empire alone 
which gives Britain its prestige as a 
world power, and that responsible gov- 
ernment is the factor which is leading 
up to closer union. Within the last year 
or two, there have been taken most 
important steps which have no logical 
outcome but the Federation of the 
British Empire. 

Canada has of her own motion, with- 
out asking any return, made a tariff 
preference in favor of Great Britain to 

Al 



2A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 



the extent of one-third of the tax 
levied, and in conjunction with the 
other leading colonies she has sent her 
sons to the battlefields of South Africa, 
to fight for the solidarity of the Empire. 
All the progress that has been made 
is a natural evolution. Yet, the wisest 
statesman of his time would not, at the 
commencement of the 19th Century, 
have dared to predict a favorable situa- 
tion for Canada at its close. The 19th 
Century did not open auspiciously for 



Invasion, loss of independence, national 
annihilation, was the prospe-^t. The 
French, after a long arm- 1 ice, had 
resumed war. The Armed Neutrality 
— practically a universal league against 
England — had been revived. Even Pitt 
was despondent, and his cabinet was 
divided, part being in favor of peace at 
any price. The internal distress was 
as great as the outlook was depressing. 
The severity of the situation may be 
gleaned from the fact that while wages 




PRETORIA DAY IN TORONTO, I^OOKING NORTH ON YONGil STREET 



Canada. All the world was at war, and 
had been so for many years back. In 
the course of the wars, the British Em- 
pire had been rent in twain, the public 
debt had risen to unimaginable dimen- 
sions, the country and its credit were 
supposed to be completely exhausted, 
and yet it was palpable that struggles 
and trials immensely greater than any 
that had been undergone had soon to 
be faced. 

The star of Napoleon was strongly 
ascendant. It was not merely loss of 
possessions that the country feared. 



were not one-half of the present figures, 
wheat was worth $3.75 per bushel. 

The one bright hope of the nation 
was in her naval strength. That had 
been growing prodigiously as the result 
of her trials. In the early years of the 
century came victory after victory. At 
length, Britain had shattered all her 
rivals at sea, and even the most despon- 
dent came to recognize that whatever 
else might happen, the Empire could 
not be seriously damaged except from 
within. 

The dwellers in what is now Canada 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTUR^S 



A3 



had their full share in all these anxieties 
and in addition had some very formid- 
able troubles of their own. Not only 
did they stand to lose by every loss 
made by the Empire, but it was for 
many years an open question whether 
the Empire might not, at a push, attempt 
to save itself by throwing Canada to 
the wolves. They had already experi- 
enced one notable sequence of this kind. 
When Britain made up its mind to 
recognize American Independence, her 
statesmen also made up their mind that 



American government had authorized 
its delegates not to press for this land, 
which fact the British government 
ought to have known. Anyhow, away 
went the land. The loss of it must 
have been a severe wrench to the loyalty 
of the British North Americans ; in 
fact, such a surrender could not have 
been made had it not been for the pecu- 
liar composition of the British North 
American people. 

These were mainly of two classes : 
( I ) The French of Quebec and Acadia, 




(ONTARIO PROVrNCIAL PARLIAMENT BUIIvDING— TORONTO 



to drive a wedge between Fiance and 
the United States was of supreme im- 
portance. 

So in the final treaty of peace, the 
Americans got not only all the ter- 
ritory they were entitled to, but the 
British also gave them as a free gift all 
that part of Canada which now forms 
the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, 
Illinois and Wisconsin. 

In extenuation, it may be said that 
the British government thought the 
country it ceded was worth nothing ; and 
against this it may be urged that the 



the offspring of military settlers ; as 
Frenchmen, sore against the Mother 
Land which had surrendered them to 
England ; Royalists almost to a man 
and as such and as ardent Roman 
Catholics utterly hostile to the French 
Revolution and all that it implied and 
almost equally dreading the American 
Revolution ; also embittered against the 
Americans by the knowledge that it 
was in deference to American com- 
plaints that England fought France in. 
America. 

(2). The other principal component of 



4A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CEN-nJRY 



the population was the United Empire 
lyoyalists — the "Tories" who emi- 
grated, or who were driven with the 
grossest cruelty and indignity from the 
United States at the close of the war. 
This movement was one of the great 
emigrations of history. It exceeded 
many times over in numbers the great 
Boer Trek of which we have heard so 
much, and the results of it have been 
much more important. The U. E- 
Loyalists were by no means the rifif-raff 
which it has pleased some American 
writers to call them. 

Early Iramigrants. 

On the contrary, they were distinctly 
of the better class of Americans. They 
included the more recent arrivals from 
Britain ; the official class and all those 
whose business threw them in contact 
with the colonial authorities. The task 
they undertook in emigrating to Canada 
was one of much greater magnitude 
than that faced the Boers on any of 
their treks. They had to face, unpre- 
pared, a climate of great rigor, to settle a 
country almost unknown, and in nearly 
all cases they were not by previous 
habits of life well calculated to endure 
the hardships they had to encounter. 

From the very first, the people were 
devotedly loyal to the British Crown ; 
how could it be otherwise, composed as 
the population was, with the United 
States to draw off every emigrant or 
other person with any sentiment of 
hostility to Britain? Such a people 
would and actually did submit as gra- 
ciously as possible on every occasion 
when Britain in the attempt to create a 
better understanding with the United 
States sacrificed Canadian interests— as 
they were sacrificed on several occasions. 



For the first decade of the 19th Cen- 
tury, however, the British North Amer- 
icans lived in fear of absorption into 
the United States ; this, notwithstand- 
ing that the continuous naval victories 
of Britain kept war away from Ameri- 
can shores. But it is certain that the 
difierent French governments did not 
abandon the idea of some day recover- 
ing Canada. They had agents in Can- 
ada, in the United States, and among 
the Indians, stirring up anti-British 
feeling all the time. One of these 
agents, named McLane, was actually 
convicted and executed at Quebec, 

Loyal to the Core. 

The British forces in Canada were 
not more than a mere handful, and if 
there had been any treasonable spirit 
abroad, history might have had another 
page to it. That, however, the country, 
and especially the French part of it, 
was loyal to the core is proved by the 
fact that the Roman Catholic clergy in 
Quebec used to perform Te Deums 
whenever news arrived of any such 
British success as the Battle of the Nile 
St. Vincent, Copenhagen, or Trafalgar. 

Yet the fear of war with the United 
States subsisted. Britain was continu- 
ally exercising her right of searching 
American vessels, and impressing Brit- 
ish subjects found therein. It is likely 
that the searching was neither conducted 
in, nor submitted to in the very best 
drawing-room manner. In 1807 the 
British man-of-war Leopard on the 
high seas attacked the American man-of- 
war Chesapeake, on the refusal of the 
latter to yield up some British seamen. 

This rupture created much excitement 
in both Canada and the United States. 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



At 



Forty Americans were killed and 
wounded in the affair and the British 
seamen were taken by force. 

Naturally enough a storm of indigna- 
tion arose in the States. Nevertheless, 
war did not then follow. As a matter 
of fact, Britain offered reparation for 
the affair and the whole matter might 
easily have been settled, but unfortu- 
nately the state of American party 
politics was such that nothing but a 
war with Britain would secure the sal- 
vation of the Republican party and the 
re-election of President Madison. 

This is one of many instances fur- 
nished by modern history in which 
great public interests have been made 
to bend to the exigencies of political 
parties. It is believed that the second 
war between Great Britain and the 
United States could have been averted 
by wise statesmanship and that patience 
and conciliation which are good for 
both the individual and the nation. 

A Foolish War. 

It is not necessary here to narrate the 
history of Napoleon's Berlin and Milan 
decrees, and of the British Orders in 
Council issued in retaliation. Suffice 
it to say, that both the French and 
British injured the United States ship- 
ping interests, but by all the canons the 
French being the aggressors, the United 
States should have gone to war with 
France instead of England. But it 
suited best to attack England and Can- 
ada on the cry of "Free Trade and 
Sailors' Rights;" and thus and so did 
one of the most foolish and wanton 
wars of history begin. 

The history of that war is wholly 
creditable to Canada. The American 
government had supposed that a great ' 



number of Canadians would revolt 
against the "tyranny" of Britain. On 
the contrary, the Canadian people rose 
as one man and, along with a mere 
handful of British troops, led by indif- 
ferent generals, they gave the Ameri- 
cans a rude awakening. Defeat after 
defeat was inflicted upon superior 
American forces. 

In quick succession came the loss of 
Mackinac, the surrender of Detroit, 
the defeat at Oueenston Heights, with 
a loss of 250 killed and wounded and 
900 surrendered. In the next campaign 
the Americans had learned they could 
not " rush " Canada. They brought up 
largely increased armies and achieved 
some success, nevertheless they had to 
submit to mortifying defeats at Raisin 
River, Stoney Creek, Beaver Dams, 
Chateauguay, and Chrysler's Farm, and 
at the end of the year were no better 
off than at the beginning. The cam- 
paign of 1 8 14 brought the Americans 
the bloody defeat of Lundy's Lane, 
with a loss in killed and wounded of 
800 out of a force of 5000. 

The Capitol Burned, 

In the same year, a British force 
burned the Capitol at Washington and 
Navy Yard, and won the battle of Bla- 
densburg. The Americans have ever 
esteemed this an act of vandalism, but 
it was at least an offset to several similar 
exploits of their own, such as the burn- 
ing of the Parliament Buildings at 
York (Toronto), and the burning of 
unoffending villages such as Newark, 
Port Dover, etc., acts not justifiable in 
modern war, and so admitted to be by 
the more moderate American historians. 

While the land campaign had been a 
perfect failure from the American point 



6A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



of "view, the naval campaign liad been 
full of equally uncomfortable surprises 
for the British. The British govern- 
ment appear to have been totally with- 
out information as to the American 
naval strength. At no time did they 
send one-twelfth of their navy against 
the United States, and the ships they 
sent were individually smaller and less 
powerful than the American vessels. 

The consequence was that the sup- 
posedly invincible mistress of the seas 
received a quick succession of stagger- 
ing blows ; from which no doubt valu- 
able lessons were learned. But too late 
to be of any use in that war, for on 
Dec. 24, 1 8 14, a Treaty of Peace was 
concluded. Both nations were heartily 
sick of the affair. At no time did 
Britain want war with the United 
States. All she desired was that the 
United States should not be made use of 
by Napoleon in furtherance of his plans 
for creation of a world empire. As for 
the American people, in 18 14 the 
opinion was all but universal that the 
war they had was not of the kind they 
wanted. 

The Treaty of Peace. 

It was one thing to attack Britain 
when her face was set against a whole 
world in arms, led by the invincible 
Napoleon, and to attack a supposedly 
helpless and disaffected Canada. It was 
altogether another thing in 18 14 with 
Britain victorious all along- the line, 
with Napoleon caged, as he was supposed 
to be, safely in Elba, and with the 
British people demanding that their 
government send out Wellington with 
his Peninsular army, and a sufficient 
fleet at his back. Besides, in 18 14 
Madison's second term was assured and 



there was no election pending. Every- 
thing, in fact, made the peace im- 
mensely popular. It is worthy of 
mention that not one of the causes of 
war as described in the American Dec- 
laration was mentioned at all in the 
Treaty of Peace. 

Canada came out of that war a diflfer- 
ent country. She began to feel sure of 
herself and the work of development 
went on apace. The task which the 
people had before them was one of 
enormous magnitude. The domestic 
situation of the people may be described 
as one of almost unconquerable diffi- 
culty in the midst of abounding plenty. 

At the beginning of the century, 
lyower Canada contained about 250,000 
people ; Upper Canada about 30,000, 
who doubled themselves within the 
next six years. 

Life in the Backwoods. 

A great number of them were per- 
sons who had been gently nourished 
and were suddenly called upon to lace 
the same kind of a backwoods life that 
confronted the Pilgrim Fathers at Ply- 
mouth Rock. The pioneers of this 
generation, even in the Klondike, have 
no conception of the severity of the 
life their forefathers led. The latter 
had no tools but the axe, the plough, 
the sickle, the scythe, and the fork. 
They had to carry their seed and sup- 
plies on their backs over so-called roads 
that were only trails or bush tracks and 
were wholly impassable by horses. 

They had not only to swing the axe, 
but to learn how to do it ; and not 
merely to hold the plough but often to 
yoke themselves and their wives and 
pull it. They had to cut their wheat 
by hand, to thresh it with the flail, to 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



A7 



winnow it in the wind, and to pound it 
into a kind of meal in mortars, or often 
in a hole excavated in a hardwood 
stump. 

Altogether, the requirements made of 
the early 19th Century pioneer in Can- 
ada were such that the persons who 
survived it must have been very clear 
wheat indeed. One of the pleasant 
features of it was that there was no 
trouble with the Indians. There are 
no tales of massacre of, or by the Indi- 
ans who were "moved on" during the 
great expansion of Canada during the 
fiist half of this century. 

The rights of the Indians were s':ru- 
pulously respected. Every acre of their 
land was bought and paid for, and its 
former owners provided with new homes 
before white men were allowed to enter 
upon it. The consequence of this 
humane and just policy has been that 
the Canadian Indian tribes, whose for- 
mer history was one of turbulence and 
bloodshed, have settled down and at- 
tained an advanced degree of civiliza- 
tion and are as flourishing and contented 
as any part of Her Majesty's subjects. 

A System of Tyranny. 

Hard as was the pioneer life, it was 
aggravated by many unnecessary evils. 
The system of government was tyran- 
nical and irresponsible. The British 
government kept sending out officials 
who were bumptious and arrogant to a 
degree, and appeared to be animated by 
an idea that the country existed for 
their benefit. They obstructed neces- 
sary reforms, were corrupt and partial 
in their administration, and allowed 
themselves to be led by cliques to such 
an extent that life became a burden to all 
who were not "with the government." 



Especially against settlers from the 
United States, of whom a great many 
came in immediately after the war, was 
the official ill-feeling shown. So that 
while settlement went on apace, busi- 
ness flourished, the vast Canal system 
set on foot, and educational and reli- 
gious institutions were bc:ing planted, 
political unrest existed. What aggra- 
vated the people most was the Clergy 
Reserve question. In 1791 land had 
been set apart in Upper and Lower 
Canada as endowment for "the clergy," 

These endowments were claimed by 
the " Established Church," which took 
the position that the clergy meant the 
Church of England and Scotland clergy 
A furious controversy raged for years 
around this question, the government 
of course siding with the privileged 
class. This was but one element of the 
discontent. The government was not 
really representative ; it was a mere 
shadow of freedom that the people, 
except the ruling class, enjoyed. 

Outbreak of Rebellion. 

The new American settlers were of 
course restive under such a condition. 
Their situation was very much like that 
of the Transvaal Outlander of 1890-9, 
and they were not slow in expressing 
their opinion of it. Things went 
from bad to worse, the government 
resisting every reform until rebellion 
actually broke out in 1837-39, hoth in 
Upper and Lower Canada, under Wil- 
liam Lyon Mackenzie in the former 
and Louis Joseph Papineau in the 
latter. 

In Upper Canada the affair collapsed 
after a mere riot. In Lower Canada it 
was more serious. In both provinces 
the risings were early crushed and the 



8A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 



ringleaders thrown into prison. As 
many as i8o were sentenced to be 
hanged, but these sentences were only 
carried out in a few cases, the other 
sentences being commuted to transpor- 
tation to the Antipodal penal settle- 
ment. 

Among the persons transported were 
many Americans who, imder the usual 
American misinformation as to the 
state of feeling in Canada, had joined 
the insurgents under the delusion that 
they represented a revolutionary instead 
of a reform movement. The United 
Slates government had been very lax 
before and during the Rebellion, conse- 
quently ill feeling on both sides again 
arose very high. 

This was aggravated by the daring 
act of a few Canadians, who by night 
crossed the Niagara river, seized an 
American steam vessel named the Car- 
oline^ which had been used by the 
rebels, set her on fire and turned her 
adrift. The boat went burning on 
towards the Falls, probably went to 
pieces on striking the rapids for she 
was never seen again. An American 
citizen was killed during the attack. 

Diplomatic Correspondence. 

A good deal of diplomatic correspon- 
dence followed, but no compensation 
was ever made by Britain. It is prob- 
able that American claims in this re- 
spect were traded off against counter 
claims on the United States for un- 
doubted laxity in not preventing Aaner- 
ican citizens from giving aid and com- 
fort to rebels. 

Out of the Rebellion grew Reform. 
The British government sent an able 
man, Lord Durham, to report on the 
condition of affairs. This Report is 



one of the ablest documents in consti- 
tutional annals. If it had been adopted 
as a whole it would have ended Cana- 
dian discontent. As it was, it set roll- 
ing a ball which did not stop. Upon it 
the British government founded a new 
constitution for Canada, that of 1841. 
By it. Upper and Lower Canada were 
united into a Legislative Union under 
the name of " The Province of Canada. ' ' 
It was only a compromise. It gave 
equal representation to each Province. 
As Upper Canada was increasing much 
the more rapidly, a cry against the 
injustice and in favor of representation 
by population, was at once started up. 
The composition of the Upper Chamber 
was also defective, as it was too much 
the slave of the government. It soon 
became evident that this Constitution 
would be short-lived. Nevertheless it 
passed some good Reform measures. 

The Clergy Reserves. 

It settled the vexed question of the 
Clergy Reserves by first taking care of 
the life interests, and then diverting 
the endowment to educational purposes. 
It abolished the Seigneurial tenure, or 
Feudal system, under which land had 
been held in Quebec. But government 
under it became more and more difficult, 
as the Upper Province's grievance about 
insufficient representation began to 
grow. 

At length the occurrence of the Amer- 
ican War of Secession drew the atten- 
tion of the people to the desirability of 
uniting themselves for the purpose of 
self-defence and advancement. Public 
opinion forced the hands of the politi- 
ticians. The leading- men of both 
parties agreed to sink all their differ- 
ences and combine together to effect a 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



a9 



confederation of all the British North 
American Provinces. 

At the same time the seaboard colo- 
nies were moving toward a Maritime 
Confederation. Approaches were made 
toward them, and the upshot of it was 
that delegates were appointed and a 
grand conference was held, at which a 
scheme for the Confederation of all the 
British North American Colonies was 
agreed upon. The scheme so agreed 
upon was embodied in a Bill which was 
submitted to and carried by the Impe- 
rial Parliament, under the name of 
"The British North America Act, 
1867." By that Act was called into 
existence the Dominion of Canada, 
with a Constitution similar in some 
respects to that of the United States, 
in that the country is a Confederation, 
but differing materially in certain re- 
spects. 

The Dominion Parliament. 

The Canadian statesmen thought to 
avoid certain weaknesses that had been 
revealed in the American Constitution 
by the War of Secession, lately closed. 
Instead, therefore, of the State or Pro- 
vince being the unit, as in the United 
States, in Canada the residuum of sov- 
ereignty, that is all powers not dele- 
gated to either Confederation or Pro- 
vince, is reposed in the Dominion Par- 
liament, the Provinces simply having 
power over the matters delegated to 
them, and even there the Provincial 
Legislation is subject to revision by the 
Dominion Parliament. 

Sufficient time has not yet elapsed to 
prove whether this arrangement will 
work permanently. There have been 
fierce controversies between the Provin- 
ces and the Dominion on matters arising 



out of jurisdictions. Among them were 
the Rivers and Streams Case, in which 
the Dominion undertook to disallow an 
Act of the Ontario Legislature, dealing 
with the flotation of lumber on running 
waters. 

Another was the Manitoba Schools 
Case, in which the Dominion disallowed 
Manitoba legislation abolishing separate 
schools for Roman Catholics. In both 
cases the controversies ended in the dis- 
comfiture of the Dominion government; 
in the latter, the indignation aroused 
throughout the Dominion by the attack 
on Provincial rights contributed largely 
to the ejection from office of the Con- 
servative Party in 1896. 

So far the lesson to be learned from 
the history of the controversies is that 
the power to disallow Provincial legis- 
lation is a most dangerous one to its 
possessor. Provincial feeling is sure to 
fire-up in the event of any interference 
from Ottawa, and it is quite plain that 
a wise statesman would never use the 
power unless urgent consideration of 
public safety compelled him to do so; 
and even then he would probably lose 
more political capital than he would 
make. 

Make-up of the Senate. 

Another fundamental difference be- 
tween the Canadian and the American 
Constitutions is in the composition of 
the Senate. Canada had so recently 
come through an agitation for represen- 
tation according to population, that an 
arbitrary two Senators for each State 
was a quite inadmissable scheme, abso- 
lutely certain to give dissatisfaction. 
No good plan acceptable to all parties 
I could be found. It was necessary to 
I consider the feelings of the smaller 



lOA 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 



Provinces, so at length a compromise 
was agreed upon by which an equal 
number of Senators was assigned to On- 
tario and Quebec, and the same number 
for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick 
combined. These Senators are ap- 
pointed for life by the Government of 
the day. 

It was supposed that by this means 
a Senate had been formed which would 
be fairly in touch with the people, 
and a means was provided by which a 
small obstructive majority might be 
swamped if occasion arose. That was 
where a great mistake was made. In the 
generation immediately preceding Con- 
federation there had been fierce political 
controversies and frequent changes of 
government. Everyone supposed that 
under the new constitution the parties 
would fairly alternate in terms of office. 

But to the surprise of everybody, the 
new constitution worked the other way. 
The Senate has been reduced to an 
anomaly and a danger by the fact that 
during the past thirty years of Confed- 
eration, one party, the Conservative, 
held office for twenty-five years, and 
consequently the Senate became filled 
with Conservatives to such an extent 
that there was scarcely a corporal's 
guard of their opponents. 

Senate very Obedient. 

This did not matter much — except 
that the Senate was abjectly useless — 
as long as the Conservative party were 
in power. The Senate obediently passed 
every Conservative measure that was 
submitted. But in 1 896 the Conserva- 
tives were ejected from office, and there- 
upon the Senate became a dangerous 
nuisance. 

It began to reject the Liberal govern- 



ment's measures for purely partisan 
reasons, and otherwise to obstruct the 
work of the House of Commons. Re- 
form of the Senate, and the making it 
responsible to the people is therefore 
one of the leading issues in Canadian 
politics as this book goes to press. 

In other respects the British North 
America Act has worked exceedingly 
well. Like all confederations it has 
proved expensive, for clashing interests 
have to be reconciled usually by ex- 
penditure of money. Under it a strong 
national feeling has grown up where 
formerly there was nothing but the 
spirit of loyalty to the Empire — and 
this without any diminution of the 
imperial loyalty, but with a decided 
increase of it. 

Members and Territories. 

The Dominion consists of the follow- 
ing members and territories : 

Original Members — Ontario, formerly 
Canada West and Upper Canada, 
Quebec, formerly Canada East and 
Lower Canada. 

Nova Scotia. 

New Brunswick. 

1 869. The Northwest Territories and 
Rupert's Land, the possessions of 
the Hudson Bay Company were 
added to Canada. 

1870. Manitoba admitted. 

1 87 1. British Columbia admitted. 
1873. Prince Edward Island admitted. 
1880. By Imperial Order in Council. 

all British Territories and posses- 
sions in North America and islands 
adjacent, not already included in 
the Dominion of Canada, except 
Newfoundland and its dependencies, 
vvere annexed to Canada. 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



All 



Districts — The Territories of Canada 
are divided into the following dis- 
tricts : 

Keewatin. 

Assiniboia. 

Saskatchewan. 

Alberta. 

Athabasca. 

Yukon (separate territory, 1898). 

Mackenzie. 

Ungava. 

Franklin. 
The area of the Dominion is 3,653,946 

square miles. 
The length of the frontier line is about 
3000 miles. 
As before stated, the political parties 
sank their differences and united, in 
order to bring about confederation. The 
work being done, and the statesmen 
having discovered, from close personal 
contact, that there were radical differ- 
ences of opinion on nearly every sub- 
ject, the parties fell apart into their 
original ranks. 

The G-reat Northwest. 

The first work of any magnitude was 
to acquire and provide for the govern- 
ment of the great Northwest. Unfor- 
tunately this was carried out in such a 
manner as to arouse the hostility of 
some of the peoples transferred. In 
1 869 a rebellion broke out under the lead- 
ership of Lous Riel, a French half-breed. 

He had oratorical, but little material 
assistance from Fenian organizations in 
the United States. The affair might 
have been serious had it not been for 
the formidable force sent. An Imperial 
force, under Col. (now Lord) Wolseley, 
crossed the trackless wilderness between 
Lake Superior and Red River, but 
the insurgents dispersed on its arrival. 



A condition of the entry of British 
Columbia into Confederation was that 
a railroad should be built across the 
continent within ten years — a bargain 
which at that time was considered 
physically impossible of fulfillment. 
Soon after the bargain was made, a 
general election came on, and immedi- 
ately afterwards it was discovered that 
enormous sums had been paid ta the 
Premier's, Sir John Macdonalds, cam- 
paign funds by the contractors for the 
railway. 

Such was the indignation aroused in 
the country that the government re- 
signed. Hon. Alex. Mackenzie acceded 
to office and was sustained by the 
country after the dissolution which fol- 
lowed. He held that the bargain with 
British Columbia was impossible to 
fulfill and obtained a modification of it. 
He remained in office four years, during 
which much preliminary work on the 
C. P. R. was done. In 1878 Sir fohn 
Macdonald returned to power on the 
Protection cry. 

Canadian Pacific Road. 

As soon as the protection question 
had been dealt with he took up the 
Canadian Pacific, made an agreement 
with a syndicate who, in return for 
^25,000,000 and 25,000,000 acres of land 
and the gift of the works already com- 
pleted, agreed to build the line in ten 
years, and thereafter to own and run it. 
The company set to work with almost 
superhuman energy and actually com- 
pleted its road, 2000 miles, some of it 
of exceeding difficulty, in fifty-four 
months, instead of in the ten years 
allowed by the contract. 

More than 300 miles of the road 
was through solid rock. There were 



12 a 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



bridges without number, some of them 
i^ery large and high, and many costly 
tunnels. Altogether it was an achieve- 
ment in railroad building which has not 
yet been surpassed anywhere. 

But there had again been a failure to 
consider the feelings of the people, 
whose mode of life had been upset by 
the sudden entrance of civilization. 
The government had not treated fairly 
the Indians and Half-breeds whose 
lands had been taken. Rascally agents 
and careless and incompetent ministers 
had combined together to create such a 
state of affairs that another rebellion 
broke out. 

The discontented Indians and Half- 
breeds sent for Riel, who had been 
living in Minnesota, and on his arrival 
took up arms. The first use made of 
the Pacific Railway was to transport 
troops for the suppression of the rebel- 
lion, the troops marching past a gap 
north of Lake Superior where the rails 
had not yet been laid. 

Uprising Suppressed. 

There was considerable loss of life in 
this rebellion, and had it not been that 
the government sent an overwhelming 
force (wholly Canadian except the com- 
manding officer) there might have been 
a general rising throughout the North- 
west. Even as it was, it is probable 
that the Canadian government owed its 
escape from a catastrophe to the fact 
that its treatment of the Indians had 
been traditionally just and gentle, and 
that the variation from its usual line 
had not been too widespread. 

In 1878, the government, Hon. Alex. 
Mackenzie, was defeated by Sir John 
Macdonald, who had raised a cry in 
favor of Protection for home industries. 



What gave strength to this ^^ was the 
feeling of resentment against the Amer- 
ican government which, in deference 
to the anti-British feeling, had abrogated 
a Reciprocity Treaty formerly existing 
between Canada and the United States. 
The abrogation was made in the expec- 
tation that Canada, deprived of its 
markets, would become discontented 
and poor, and by and by would want to 
become part of the United States. 

What it really did was to stir Canada 
up to provide markets of its own and to 
develop its export trade with Britain. 
The Canadian people readily followed 
Sir John's lead in the matter. They 
gave him an enormous majority. In 
1879 the Protective Tariff was put in 
force. In 1882 Sir John was again 
returned to power, on the cry that the 
protective tariff needed increasing ; 
again in 1887, and yet again in 1891. 

New Premier. 

Shortly after the last named election 
he died. He was succeeded in the Pre- 
miership by Sir John Abbott, who from 
ill-health resigned a year afterwards, 
and by Sir John Thompson who, after 
leading the Conservative party success- 
fully for two years, died at Windsor 
Castle while he was in the act of await- 
ing the conferring of the dignity of 
Privy Councillor upon him by Her 
Majesty. The next Premier was Sir 
Mackenzie Bowell, who took the office 
in 1894. His party soon became dis- 
united. The Manitoba School question 
which had been in politics for some 
time past, now pressed for settlement. 

The Liberal opposition, under Mr./ 
(now Sir) Wilfrid Laurier, began to 
develop great strength. A cabal was 
formed against Sir M. Bowell in his 



CANADA IN THE NINeTEEN'TH CENTURY. 



AlS 



fwn party. He was forced to resign. 
Sir Charles Tupper was called to the 
Premiership, the life of Parliament ex- 
pired soon afterward, the election came 
on and he was decisively defeated. 

Sir Wilfrid Laurier acceded to power 
in June, 1 896. He settled the Manitoba 
School Question by conciliation instead 
of disallowance. His first financial 
measure was to make a preference in 
favor of the importation of British 
manufacturers — first of 25 per cent, of 
the amount of the duties, subsequently 
increased to 34 per cent. As this was 
done without asking any concession 
from Britain, but as an acknowledg- 
ment of what Canada owed to the 
Mother Country, the measure was im- 
mensely popular in both Canada and 
Britain, and it constituted Sir Wilfrid 
the leading figure, after Her Majesty, 
in the imposing ceremonies which in 
1897 celebrated the close of the sixtieth 
year of her reign. 

Perhaps the most far-reaching event 
of the last few years for Britain and 
her colonies has been the entrance of 
the latter upon the field of battle in 
Africa, as their mother country's most 
valuable and efficient aid. Months 
before the outbreak of war Canada vol- 



untarily oflfered aid, as did other colo- 
nies, in the event of aid being required. 

As soon as Kruger declared war, 
Canada oflfered 1000 men, whose servi- 
ces were joyfully accepted. As soon as 
the reverses of the campaign com- 
menced, Canada repeated her oflfer and 
her contribution was again accepted. 
A magnificent gift was made to the 
Empire by lyord Strathcona, formerly 
Sir Donald Smith, Governor of the 
Hudson Bay Company, and High Com- 
missioner for Canada in London, also 
one of the syndicate who built the 
Canadian Pacific Railway. He raised 
and equipped a troop of 500 horse, 
who have done splendid service in the 
field. 

Altogether Canada has contributed 
3500 men to the South African cam- 
paign. They have won golden opinions 
by their courage, intelligence and ready 
adaptation to circumstances. They led 
the final assault which forced the sur- 
render of Cronje at Paardeberg, and 
generally speaking have been well to 
the front on every possible occasion. 
Many of them have left their bodies, or 
their health, on the African veldt. But 
of the seed which has been sown who 
shall predict the glories of the harvest? 



THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO. 



A brief outline of the political his- 
tory of the principal province of the 
„Dominion will not be out of place. 
■ Ontario, formerly Canada West, and 
Upper Canada, and once a part of New 
France, is bounded on the east by the 
Ottawa river; on the west by a line 
drawn due north from the confluence of 
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers which 
strikes through the Lake of the Woods; 
on the north by the English river and 



on the south by the United States 
boundary. It contains 220,000 square 
miles, not including the part of the 
Great Lakes within its limits, which 
part amounts to about 50,000 square 
miles. Its surface was in a state of 
nature almost wholly covered with 
dense forests of coniferous and decidu- 
ous trees, not one-quarter of which 
have yet been removed. 

On entering confederation, the prov- 



14A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



ince was under the control of a coalition 
ministry at the head of which was Hon. 
John Sandfield Macdonald. The leaders 
of opposition were Alexander Macken- 
zie, subsequently Premier of Canada, 
and Edward Blake, afterwards Minister 
of Justice in the Dominion, then leader 
of the Dominion opposition, and now 
member of the Imperial Parliament for 
South Longford and a leader of the Irish 
Home Rule Parliament. 

Hon. John Sandfield Macdonald' s 
government was a fairly able and eco- 
nomical one. Its management of the 
finances was careful, and as in the 
adjustment of accounts at confederation 
there was a large balance in favor of 
Ontario, the treasury accounts soon 
showed a large surplus. A policy of 
aiding railways was entered upon and 
bonuses were voted to the extent of 
several millions of dollars. A line of 
cleavage soon manifested itself as to the 
policy to be pursued. 

Government Defeated. 

Mr. Macdonald took the autocratic 
view that the government of the day 
should select the railway to be aided, 
while the opposition maintained that 
the selection should be left to the 
House. A crisis grew out of the dis- 
pute, and in December, 1871, the gov- 
ernment was defeated on Mr. Blake's 
motion, that the House should make 
the selection. A ministry was formed 
under Mr. Blake, but soon afterwards 
that gentleman retired from the arena 
of provincial politics and Hon. Oliver 
Mowat, who had been on the bench for 
a short time, re-entered politics, and in 
October, 1872, became Premier of On- 
tario. 

He retained the ofl&ce until July, 1896, 



a period of twenty-four years, at the end 
of which he resigned to enter Hon. Wil- 
frid Laurier's cabinet as Minister of 
Justice. In the meantime he had been 
knighted. His period of office was not 
only the longest in the history of Brit- 
ish administrations, but was singularly 
almost uniformly successful. His finan^. 
cial administration was brilliant. He 
left the Province in what is probably 
the soundest position ever attained by 
an Anglo-Saxon community. 

Money in the Treasury. 

It is out of debt, has a large cash 
surplus in the treasury, and is possessed 
of solid assets of land and timber of the 
value of hundreds of millions of dollars. 
It fell to his share to bear the burden of 
a number of constitutional controversies 
with the government of Sir John Mac- 
donald, and though the latter gentleman 
prided himself on his knowledge of con- 
stitutional law, he was on every occa- 
sion when the cases got before the Privy 
Council worsted by the Premier of On- 
tario. 

There was also an acrid contest about 
the boundaries of Ontario, which was 
won by the Province. The contention 
of the Dominion was that Ontario ex- 
tended westward only to about the heac . 
of Lake Superior, but it was establishe i 
that the Province's claim to territoiy 
far to the westward was good. The 
reform of the judicature system, the 
perfection of the Liquor Licensing laws, 
the development of Municipal institu- 
tions, and the educational system were 
among the tasks performed during Sir 
O. Mowat' s premiership, 

On Sir Oliver's resignation he was 
succeeded by Hon. A. S. Hardy, who 
had been Provincial Secretary and 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Al5 



Crown lyands Commissioner in the pre- 
ceeding regime. After about three 
years of fruitful work, Hon. Mr. Hardy 
resigned on account of ill-health. He 
was succeeded in the Premiership in 
October, 1899, by Hon. G. W. Ross, 
Iv.L.D., who now holds the office. Dr. 
Ross was a member of the Dominion 
^Parliament in which he distinguished 
himself as one of the most competent 
critics and sound debaters. 

He was called by Sir O. Mowat to 
join the latter's ministry as Minister of 
Education in 1880. His tenure of this 
office was marked by the skill and cour- 
age with which he steered his depart- 
ment through several fierce controver- 
sies arising out of the peculiar situation 
in which the Cauadian Provinces stood 
with regard to the education of religious 
minorities.. 

Rights of Minorities. 

The rights of these minorities in 
Ontario and Quebec are secured by the 
British North America Act. The vari- 
ous questions arose out of differences of 
opinion as to the methods in which the 
guaranteed rights should be dealt with ; 
whether grudgingly and according to 
the strict letter of the law, or according 
to the spirit of the law. 

The government of which Dr. Ross 
was a member took the ground that the 
minority — Roman Catholic in this 
case — should be dealt with liberally ; 
that the efforts of the Legislature should 
be to secure instead of to limit the 
rights of the minority. The conse- 
quence was that when the opposition 
sought to compel the use of the Protes- 
tant Bible in the Roman Catholic 
schools, the government placed itself on 
record as opposing what, in the shape 



proposed, would have been persecution. 
At the ensuing election the govern- 
ment was sustained. So also at elec- 
tions in which the leading questions 
were whether the Roman Catholic 
schools should be aided or hindered in 
the collection of their share of the school 
taxes ; and again when it was sought 
by the opposition to proscribe the use 
of the French language in the schools. 
Altogether, Dr. Ross had a stormy term 
of office and it may safely be said that 
he left the Education Department not 
only with the respect of his friends, but 
with that of his political enemies also. 
His premiership has been distinguished 
by the taking of several important steps 
looking to the speedier development of 
the enormous natural resources of the 
Province. 

Ontario Timber System. 

Here it is proper to say a few words 
about the very successful manner in 
which the timber resources of Ontario 
have been managed. Ontario has about 
180,000 square miles of timber land, 
vast areas of which will, when cleared, 
maintain a large agricultural popula- 
tion ; but much of it cannot be profit- 
ably put to any other use than growing 
timber. 

The system of administering the 
timber land is a peculiar one, which 
has been evolved out of the local cir- 
cumstances and is proving immensely 
successful. The Province does not sell 
the land, but periodically, when the 
market is good, puts up for sale by pub- 
lic auction, the right to cut timber upon 
certain limits. The purchaser pays 
down a lump sum for this privilege, in 
addition to which he has to pay an 
^ annual license fee and certain dues at 



16A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



per M. on all the timber lie cuts , and 
lie has to observe all the regulations 
which are made by the government 
from time to time both before and after 
his purchase. 

It is not uncommon for purchasers to 
pay as much as ^i,ooo bonus per square 
mile for the right to cut pine. Good 
judges estimate that notwithstanding 
that the Province has received many 
millions for pine sold, yet the rise in 
value has been such that the standing 
unsold lumber on the public lands is 
worth more to-day than the whole of 
the forests were at the previous time. 
And whereas, only a few years ago 
nothing but the pine was of any worth 
standing, now many of the Canadian 
soft and hard woods possess, standing, 
a value quite equal to that of pine. 

Rich Timber Lands. 

The whole of the northern part of the 
Province is densely wooded with spruce, 
poplar and other woods very valuable 
for purposes of making paper pulp. 
Large tracts of this land have been 
put under license during the last few 
years, and it will not be long, even if it 
is not already the case, before the cut 
of Canadian timber for the paper mills 
will exceed that for the lumber trade. 

The forests in the southern part of 
the Province comprise white pine, of 
which valuable tree the only consider- 
able body now standing is in Ontario ; 
also, hemlock, cedar, tamarac, oak, elm, 
ash, maple, basswood, and other valu- 
able trees for which a good market is 
now opening up. 

It has recently been found necessary 
to prohibit the exportation of pine logs 
from Ontario. Michigan lumbermen 
had been purchasing Ontario limits and 



rafting the pine logs across the Geor- 
gian Bay to Bay City, Saginaw, etc., 
thus depriving Canadians of so much 
work. The effect of laying an embargo 
on the export of pine logs has been very 
beneficial to Canadian trade, and the 
step thus taken will doubtless be foU 
lowed by others looking in the same 
direction. 

Ontario's Agricultural Wealth. 

Ontario is the finest agricultural Prov- 
ince of the Dominion, and its settled 
portion will compare for productiveness 
with any portion of the United States. 
The following are some figures relating 
to the more important crops of 1898 : 

YIELD, 
PER ACRE, 
BUSHELS. BUSHELS. 

Fallwheat. . 25,158,713 24.00 
Spring wheat. 6,873,785 17.70 
Barley .... 12,663,668 28.90 

Oats 86,858,293 36.60 

Pease .... 13,521,263 15.60 
Potatoes . . . 14,358,625 84.00 
Mangels . . . 21,957,564 458.00 
Carrots ... 4,313,861 347-00 
Turnips . . . 64,727,887 427.00 
Corn .... 23,442,593 70.90 
Hay. . . tons 4,399, o63tons 1.79 
And all this in a Province where hardly 
an acre had been cleared at the begin- 
ning of the century. 

Growth of Canadian Population. 

If it were not that Canada is ovep» 
shadowed by her gigantic neighbor, all 
the world would be wondering at the 
progress made by the former country 
during the nineteenth, which is practi- 
cally her first century. As near as can 
be ascertained, there were in Canada in 
the year 1800, 230,000 persons, of whom 
some 50,000 were in Upper Canada. 
There are to-day between 5,250,000 and 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTaRx^ 



A17 



5,500,000, an increase in the century of 
about 2400 per cent. This is a very 
much greater percentage of growth 
than was made by tlie United States 
during the century, or than was made 
by the British colonies in North Am- 
erica now composing the United States 
during their first hundred years. 

Growth of Canada. 

The growth in Canada would have 
been much greater had it not been that 
the French Province, because of the 
cessiorx, has received very little aid from 
immigration. This, however, has been 
offset by the fact that the French in 
Canada have preserved their primitive 
virtues and vigor. They are among 
the most virile and prolific races. 
Families of twenty children are still 
quite common in Quebec; of thirty are 
not at all uncommon, and occasionally 
families much exceeding thirty are 
found. 

Some idea of the prolificacy of the 
French Canadians may be gleaned from 
the fact that the 60,000 or so who were 
in Canada at the conquest in 1756, have 
grown until they now number at least 
2,000,000, of whom many are living in 
the factory centres of the United States. 

At the last census, 1891, the popula- 
tion was as follows : 

MALES. FEMALES. 

Ontario 1,069,487 1,044,834 

Quebec 744, 141 744.394 

Nova vScotia 227,093 223,303 

New Brunswick .... 163,739 157,524 

Manitoba 84,342 68,164 

British Columbia . . . 63,003 35,17° 

Prince Edward Island . 54,S8i 54,^97 

Territories 53,785 45, 182 

2,460,471 2,372,768 
Total 4,843,239 

In 1901 estimated <,%toS}^ millions. 
B 



The English speaking provinces of 
Canada have educational systems that 
are equal to the best anywhere ; in fact, 
education is universal. In Quebec very 
great progress is being made. 

Education. 

In Ontario educational matters are 
under the control of the Minister of 
Education, who is a member of the 
Cabinet, and of course goes out of office 
with his government. Educational af- 
fairs are thus brought into close contact 
with the people. A few years ago there 
was doubt whether thebringing of edu- 
cation into the political arena would be 
beneficial, there is now no doubt that 
the system is completely successful. 

True that there have been some hot 
controversies, especially on the subject 
of the Bible in the schools and the con- 
trol of the text books. Both of these 
controversies are now happily settled, 
the schools being opened with prayer 
and the reading of selections from the 
Bible. As to text books, the Minister 
examines text books and grants the use of 
such as he approves of, settling the price 
and the style of printing, binding, etc. 
In Ontario, and also in Quebec, re- 
ligions differences are protected by a 
Separate School system. Wherever 
in the midst of a Protestant commu- 
nity there are a sufficient number of 
Roman Catholics to maintain a school, 
a separate school is established, and th<r 
taxes payable by the users of such 
Separate school are paid over to the 
Separate Board. In like manner, Pro- 
testant communities in Roman Catholic 
centres are protected. In all of the 
Provinces having the Separate School 
system there are both Roman Catholic 
and Protestant Separate Schools. 



18A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Number of Schools and Scholars. 



ONTARIO. Schools. 

Incl'ding Separate Schools 6,oop 

Separate Schools 340 

Protestant Separate Schools 9 



High Schools ... 
County Model Schools 
Normal Schools . . . 
Normal College . . . 
Kindergartens .... 
Teachers' Institutes . 
Night Schools .... 



130 
60 

3 
I 

105 

73 
18 



Cost per 

Scholars. Pupil. 

482,777 ^8.73 

4.1,620 

24,390 

1,288 . . 

458 . . 

176 . . 

10,693 . . 

7,627 mem's 

1,406 . . 



7.26 



29-35 



Number of Schools and Scholars. 

Schools. Scholars. 

British Columbia ... 257 17,189 
Prince Edward Island . 581 21,852 

Territories 426 16,754 

Total for Canada of 

Public Schools . . 17,558 947,208 

Other Schools . . 936 133,031 

Total expenditures on schools $8,- 

527,410, of which ;^ 3, 07 5, 407 was paid 

by the Provincial governments and the 



HIQHTilR EDUCATIONAL 


INSTITUTIONS. 




Eudowment, ] 


Prop'ty Assessed 


. Income. » 


Students. 


McGill Univ., Montreal . . . ^2,750,000 


^2,800,000 


$230,000 


1,150 


University of Toronto . . . 1,187,683 


1,457,339 


119,087 


1,332 


Trinity University, Toronto, 750,000 


325 


35,000 


475 


Dalhousie Univ., Halifax . . 340,000 


80,000 


22,700 


362 


Queen's Univ., Kingston . . 400,000 


125,000 


46,400 


635 


Ottawa University none 


225,000 


30,000 


475 


Victoria Univ., Toronto . . 280,000 


320,000 


26,000 


234 


Bishop's Coll., Lennaville, Que. 196,275 


106,280 


21,150 


165 


King's Univ., Windsor, N. S. 155,000 


250,000 


9,000 


30 


N. B. Univ., Fredericton . . 8,884 


. 


12,000 


80 


Acadia Coll., Wolfville, N. S. 155,000 


1 20,000 


12,000 


142 


Laval Univ., Quebec .... none 


1,000,000 


none 


300 


Mt. Allison College, N. B., . 117,500 


120,000 


22,500 


175 


Manitoba Univ., Winnipeg . 150,000 


600,000 


5,500 


135 


St. Francis Xavier Univ., An- 








tignish, N. S 50,000 


100,000 


11,000 


lOI 


McMaster Univ., Toronto . . ... 


. 


. . . 


134 


St . Joseph' s Col . Memramcook, N. B . none 


50,000 


. . . 


165 



Number of Schools and Scholars. 

Schools. Scholars. 

Quebec, Roman Catholic 4908 275,159 

" Protestant. . . 979 38,635 
*' Schools of Art & 

Manufactures 7 821 
" Schools of Agri- 
culture ... 4 116 
New Brunswick . . . . 1778 63,338 

Nova Scotia 2385 101,203 

Manitoba 1068 39,841 



remainder raised by local taxation and 
from other sources. 

The above are Universities. There 
are also 19 Colleges, 19 Classical Col- 
leges, 8 Ladies' Colleges, and 5 Agri- 
cultural Colleges. 

Libraries in Canada. 

Number. No. of Vols. 

Ontario 378 1,1 34,247 

Quebec 39 531,356 

Nova Scotia .... 26 97,52 1 

New Brunswick . . . 15 54,787 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Al9 



Libraries in Canada. 

Number. No. of Vols. 

Manitoba 8 34)730 

British Columbia . . lo ii)503 

Prince Edward Island 3 8,528 

Territories i 2,150 



Total 



1,874,632 



Religion. 

There were, in 1891, date of the last 
census, 10,480 churches in Canada, an 
increase of 1828 in ten years. This is 
one church for every 461 inhabitants. 
The Roman Catholics have one church 
for every 1,115 of their adherents. 
Church of England one for every 386, 
Methodists one for 251, Presbyterians 
one for 428, and Baptists one for 240. 

The number of adherents to each 
principal form of religion was: 

Church of England 646,059 

Methodists 847,766 

Presbyterians 755,326 

Baptists 303,839 

Other Denominations 288,233 



Total Protestant 



2,841,222 



Roman Catholics in Quebec . 1,291,709 
" " other Provinces 700,308 



Total Roman Catholic . . 1,992,017 

In 181 1 the proportion of Roman 
Catholics to the total population was 
41.43 per cent.; in 1891 it was 41.21 
per cent. 

The Roman Catholic Church has in 
Canada one cardinal, seven archbishops, 
twenty-three bishops, and about 1500 
clergy. 

The Church of England has two 
metropolitans and fifteen bishops and 
about 1000 clergy. 

In all Canada there are 7,164 clergy- 



' men, who increase at the rate of one 
per cent, per annum. 

Temperance and Liquor TrafQc. 

Canada is one of the banner countries 
in the matter of temperance, the Pro- 
vince of Ontario leading the van. In 
that Province, the number of convic- 
tions for drunkenness have decreased 
by nearly one-half during the last fif- 
teen years. This is owing not only to 
a very active campaign by the several 
temperance organizations, but also to 
the existence and thorough enforcement 
of a lyiquor Licensing Law. Under 
this law the number of drinking places 
and the hours of sale have been rigor- 
ously reduced. 

For instance, in the City of Toronto, 
which is not considered a temperance 
centre, and which has a population of 
200,000, there are but 150 licenses 
issued, and all but one or two of these 
are genuine hotels ; that is to say, there 
are no "saloons," or drinking places 
pure and simple, such as are to be found 
by the thousand in the large cities of 
the United States. 

Trade of Canada. 
At the beginning of the century the 
foreign trade of Canada was practically 
nothing. Even as late as 1834, the im- 
ports were but $5,000,000, and her ex- 
ports about the same. 

For the year 1899 the figures were as 
follows: 

Imports $162,764,308 

Exports .... 158,896,905 

Total trade . $321,661,213 
This amounts to about $61 per head 
for the Canadian population, and it 
compares as follows with the total trade 
of other countries. 



20A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 



Total trade per head 




Canada .... 


. ;^6i.oo 


Germany . . . 


. . 36.45 


France .... 


. . 36.39 


Austria .... 


. 14-50 


Russia .... 


. . 4.93 


Norway . . . . 


. 49.72 


Sweden .... 


• 37-71 


United States . 


. 24.16 


Great Britain . 


. 90.23 



The exports of Canada, arranged 
under their various heads, are as fol- 
lows: 

Products of the Mine . . . $13,568,585 

** Fisheries .... 9,951,304 

Forest 28,114,295 

Animal 48,024,814 

Agricultural. . . 37,601,914 

Manufactures . . 12,823,972 

Miscellaneous . . 436,466 

Coin and bullion 4,016,025 



Total $158,896,905 

The imports were: 

dutiable articles $98,349,633 

Free. • • • 59,709,541 

Coin and bullion . , . . . 4,705,134 



Total $162,764,308 

There has of late, under the influence 
of the Preferential Tariff of 25 per 
cent. — since increased to 33 per cent. 
— granted to Great Britain in 1897, 
been a remarkable change in the trade 
of Canada. The preferential tariff was 
made not exactly in retaliation for the 
McKinley Tariff, which hit Canada in 
several tender places, but as a kind of 
declaration of independence against the 
United States, and as a sign that the 
attachment to the Mother Country was 
growing stronger than ever. 



In 1868 the export trade of Canada 
divided itself in the following propor- 
tions : 

With Great Britain . . . .$18,794,840 
" United States .... 29,324,757 
" Other countries . . . 5,251,470 



Total $53,371,067 

In 1899 the following change had 

taken place: 

With Great Britain . . . . ;^85, 114,555 
" United States . . . . 40,426,856 
*' Other countries . . . 12,920,626 



;^ 1 38,462, 037 

That is to say, where Britain once 
took one-third she now takes two-thirds ; 
and where the United States once took 
much more than a half they now take 
much less than one-third. 

The change in the import trade is 
similar but is less marked, the reason 
being that there are many articles of 
American manufacture indispensable in 
Canada, the corresponding British goods 
not being suitable. 

The real significance of the above 
figures lies in the absolute demonstra- 
tion which they furnish as to the useless- 
ness of the United States attempting 
to exclude Canadian produce. The 
effect of the hostile American tariffs is 
that Canadian produce, instead of com- 
peting in the American markets, goes 
to England, where it meets the Ameri- 
can produce on neutral ground, and 
there the price not only for England 
but the whole world is settled according 
to the merits and abundance of the 
article. 

It is worthy of remark that under 
this dispensation the Canadian farmer 
is increasing his sales of certain articles 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



A21 



at a very great rate. Among them are 
the following: 

Canadiau Exports to Britain. 

1895. 1899. 

Grain .... ;?9,307,9i6 $24,294,388 
Wheat flour . . 448,503 2,102,261 
Butter .... 541,420 3,844,051 
Cheese .... 15,086,222 17,320,790 
Bacon .... 3,798,341 10,407,654 

Eggs 524,577 1,254,392 

Provisions, all, 20,866,963 33,145,050 
Wood&mfs.of 10,850,457 17,842,917 

Banks and Banking in Canada. 

There has grown up in Canada a 
banking and currency system which is 
at once safe and elastic. The volume 
of currency in circulation increases 
almost automatically as business needs 
it, and shrinks again as soon as business 
slackens. The banks are incorporated 
under a Dominion Act, which is over- 
hauled and renewed every ten years. 
Every shareholder is liable, not only 
for the total value of the stock sub- 
scribed for, but also until twelve months 
after he has sold his stock for a further 
equal amount. This liability prevents 
speculation in bank shares, and while 
it perhaps reduces their market values, 
has a great steadying effect on business, 
and it so secures the circulation that 
there has not been a dollar lost to the 
holders of notes in Canada since this 
system came into vogue. 

Banks which issue notes, can do so to 
the extent of their paid up capital, and 
they have to keep a reserve of — per 
cent, against them in legal tender, that 
is, in gold, silver, or notes of the Do- 
minion Governmet. Be it noted that 
bank notep are not legal tender in 
Canada. Under this system, on a pub- 
lic demand occurring for money, the 



banks send it out, and when the demand 
is over it comes back. As the Canadian 
banks are not required, like American 
National banks, to deposit bonds against 
their currency, it is not the former's 
interest to force the notes out in slack 
seasons, as the notes when lying idle 
are costing them nothing; and conse- 
quently, on a demand springing up they 
do not have hurriedly to call in money 
just at the time when borrowers want 
it. 

The growth of the banks in Canada 
has been astonishingly large, Here are 
the figures of the last 30 years : 

1868. 1898. 

Capital paid up . . ^830,507,447 162,571,920 

Notes in circulatiou 9,350,646 37,873,934 

Deposits 33,653,594 236,161,062 

Discounts 52,299,050 223,806,320 

Liabilities 45,144,854 281,076,656 

Assets 79,860,976 370,583,991 

The banks have country branches as 
follows : 



In Ontario . . . 
In Quebec . . . 
In other provinces 



306 
117 

218 



Total 641 

The total transactions of the Cana- 
dian chartered banks exceed $1,500,- 
000,000 per annum. 

Post Office and Other Savings 
Banks. 

Government savings banks under the 
management of the Finance Depart- 
ment exist in the maritime provinces, 
Manitoba and British Columbia. There 
are also the Post Office Savings banks, 
at which deposits of $1 can be made, 
Hot to exceed $3,000 in all, or |i,ooo in 
a year. Also, a large number of incor- 
porated savings banks, which do a flour- 
ishing business. The number of the 
several kinds of savings banks is : 



22A 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



Government savings banks . . 25 

Post office banks 814 

The deposits with these banks are : 
With government sav- 

ingsbanks $15,630,181 

With post office banks 34,480,938 
With special savings 

banks 15,482,100 

With loan companies 

savings banks . . . 18,986,154 

The number of depositors in the post 
office banks is 142,289, and the average 
amount to the credit of each is ;^242.33. 

Loan Companies. 

The loan 'companies as well as the 
banks have made a surprising growth. 
There are now 95 of them, an increase 
of nearly treble in 25 years. The growth 
is illustrated in the following table : 
1S74. J898. 

Capital ;?8,042,i58 |44,6i5,756 

Reserve funds . . . . 1,336,462 10,317,455 

Deposits 4,614,812 18,986,154 

Debentures out . . . i9>992 53,040,982 

Loans 15,041,858 111,293,689 

Total assets 16,229,407 145,378,910 

Value of real estate 

undermortgage . . 35,357.682 219,979,917 

Insurance Business. 

In nothing is the growth of the busi- 
ness of a country better shown than in 
the volume of insurance issued. Canada 
shows up well in this respect. 

For fire insurance the premiums re- 
ceived have increased as follows in 30 
years : 

Fire insurance premiums . 1869 j? 1,785, 5 39 
Fire insurance premiums . 1898 7,349,669 

The amount of property insured was : 

Property insured .... 1869 $188,359,809 
Property insured .... 1898 895,382,846 

In life insurance the growth is still 
more striking : 



TS69. 1698, 

Life insurance 

effected $12,854,132 $54,764,673 

Life insurance in 

force 35,680,082 368,545,98s 

In 1869, only one-seventh of the total 
business done was transacted with Ca- 
nadian companies. In 1898, nearly two- 
thirds was placed with Canadian com- 
panies. 

Railways, 

The problems which faced the early 
railway builders in Canada were very 
serious. Population was sparse, money 
was scarce, the distances to be traversed 
were very great and the engineering 
difficulties were formidable and of a 
new class. Before railway building was 
commenced in Canada, there had been 
no such rivers as the St. Lawrence at 
Montreal met with, and the spanning 
of that immense stream by a tubular 
iron bridge — the first of its kind — was 
justly regarded as one of the modern 
wonders of the world. 

To show the advance of modern 
science, it is only necessary to say that 
a few months ago this bridge was 
wholly rebuilt as to its superstructure, 
and the world outside of engineering 
circles scarcely heard of it. So, also, 
with the railway suspension bridge at 
Niagara Falls. It has recently been 
completely rebuilt, the largest steel 
arch in the world having been substi- 
tuted for it, and the change creates only 
a ripple of notice. 

Canada possesses three large railway 
svstems. 

The Grand Trunk system. 

The Canadian Pacific system. 

The Intercolonial system. 

The first was constructed by private 
companies which received some govern- 
mental aid ; the second was built with 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTPI CENTURY. 



a23 



ninds and on credit of subsidies given 
by the government. The third was 
constructed by and is still operated by 
the government. 

The railway mileage is as follows ; 

MILES. 

Canadian Pacific 6,301 

Grand Trunk 3,162 

Intercolonial i,355 

Other railways 5j933 

Electric roads 1 14 

Bridges and tunnels . . , . 5 



Total 16,870 

There has been given per mile by 
the public to these railways in the fol- 
lowing proportions : 

By Dominion government . $8,981 
By provincial governments 1,867 
By municipalities .... 928 

Total 111,776 

In addition there has been put into 
them 

Ordinary share capital $266,669, ^57 

Preference 111,481,933 

Bonds 354,946,866 

and witli the government and the total 

cost of the Canadian railways has been 

close on ;^ 1,000, 000, 000. 

The train mileage in 1898 was 50,- 

688,283 miles. 

Number of passengers, 18,444,049. 
Tons of freight, 28,785,903. 
Earnings, $59)7i5;i05. 
Working expenses, $39,137,549- 
The mileage in each province is 

MILES. 

Ontario 6,674 

Quebec . 3,3i5 

New Brunswick i,447 

Nova Scotia 933 

Prince Edward Island ... 210 

Manitoba 1,621 



Territories ^^77^ 

British Columbia 892 



Total 16,870 

Compared with the United States the 
railways of Canada show this : 

UNITED 

STATES. CANADA. 

Cost per mile. .$61,409 $55,797 

Receipts per mile 7,050 3,572 

Passengers killed 
per million car- 
ried 0.35 a27 

Passengers injured 
per million car- 
ried 5.61 3.96 

In 1 869 the Canadian railways carried 
1.34 passengers and 1.46 tons of freight 
per head of the population ; in 1898, 
3.51 and 5.48 respectively; showing 
that the business done per head of the 
population had nearly trebled in the 
time. 

Canadian Canal System. 

The beginning of the gigantic Cana- 
dian canal system dates back more than 
150 years. As long ago, the Hudson 
Bay Company constructed of timber a 
lock at Sault Ste. Marie for the pur- 
pose of passing their small vessels to 
the northwest. This lock was 40x10 
feet. It had been almost forgotten 
when its remains were uncovered dur- 
ing the progress of some improvements 
in the year 1900. Alongside it is the 
new Canadian lock nearly one thousand 
feet long and on the United States side 
are locks still larger in area though not 
in length. 

Soon after Upper Canada was consti- 
tuted, the legislature began appropriat- 
ing money for improvement of the 
waterways. In 1841, when the popula- 
tion of the Province was only 450,000, 



24a 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



the Legislature voted ^2,500,000 for the 
construction of canals to overcome the 
St. Lawrence rapids. Soon afterwards 
the Welland Canal, overcoming Niag-' 
ara, was entered upon. A lock 150 feet 
long was built. This, by 1875, had 
become totally inadequate, as well as 
had the St. Lawrence system, and an 
enlargement was entered upon which 
was not completed until 1900, when 
the last link, the Sonlanges canal was 
finished, giving a depth of fourteen feet 
from tidewater to the head of Lake 
Superior. 

The following table shows the dimen- 
sions of the existing canals, commenc- 
ing at tidewater : 

Lacline . . 

Sonlanges . 

Cornwall . . 

Farran's Point 

Rapide Flat 

Galops . . . 

Welland . . . 26^ 326^ 26 *' 

Sault Ste Marie i^ 18 i 900x60 

The Rideau Canal system, which 
gives an internal connection between 
the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, consists 
of six canals, in all 29^ miles long, 
with 44 locks. 

The total expenditure on the canals 
has been $92,000,000, of which $20,- 
000,000 was spent before confederation. 
The revenue averages $2^77 A77' 
Telegraphs and Telephones. 

As is natural with a highly intelligent 
and enterprising but scattered people, 
the Canadians lead the world in the 
extent of their possessions in the way 
of telegraphs. There are in the coun- 
try 30,084 miles of telegraph line, 
over which, in 1899, 4,786,101 mes- 



I sages were sent, and 2677 telegraph 
offices. 

Canada compares as follows with the 



Length 
Miles. 


Rise 
Feet. 


No. Of 
Locks. 


Dimensions 

of Locks 

Feet. 


8>^ 


18 


5 


. . . 


14 


82>^ 


4 


270x45 


II 


48 


6 


U 


t I 


lV2 


I 


800x45 


3^ 


1I>^ 


2 


27oq45 


. 7% 


1$% 


3 


(( 



leading countries: 



Miles 

of 
Line. 



Offices. 



Persons 
to each 
Office. 



1,991 
3,410 
3,750 

3,273 

2,842 

22,970 



Canada .... 40,084 2,667 
United States 189,856 22,285 
Great Britain 43,803 10,816 
France. . . . 64,622 11,769 
Germany.. . 87,513 22,150 
Russia .... 78,396 4,623 

Of telephones, Canada has 43,902 ; 
82,219 miles of wire, over which 114,- 
953,381 messages were sent. 

Mineral Production of Canada. 

There has been of late great activity 
in mineral development. Some millions 
have been spent in exploratory and de- 
velopment work, and it has become 
evident that Canada needs only popula- 
tion and a market to take her place 
among the leading mineral producing 
nations. This table shows the extent 
of the production and its rapid in- 
crease. 



Copper . . 
Gold. . . 
Iron Ore . 
Lead . . . 
Nickel . . 
Silver . . 
Asbestos . 
Coal . . . 
Graphite . 
Gypsum . 
Mica. . . 
Petroleum 



Minerals Produced. 

1887. 

$ 366,798 

1,237,804 

146,917 

9,126 

none 

341,645 

226,976 

4,388,206 

2,400 

157,277 

29,816 

556,708 



1899. 
$2,655,319 
21,049,730 

248,372 

977,250 
2,067,840 

1,834,371 

483,299 

9,040,058 

16,179 

257,329 

163,000 

1, 202,020 



The total value of the minerals pro- 
duced in 1899 was $48,438,247. 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



A 25 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA. 



(^jY country 

jjX fancy, whi 
y^tV^ of Cana 



COUNTRY in its political in- 
licli was the position 
Canada until nearly the 
middle of the 19th Century, 
could hardly be expected to have put 
forth a distinctively national literature. 
Even now, when the throbbings of the 
new Canadian nationality are strong 
and healthful, there are certain pecu- 
liarities in the position of the country 
which tend to hinder the attainment 
of a full national literary life. Canada 
is a well-educated, sparsely populated, 
comparatively poor country — however 
rich in undeveloped resources — lying 
alongside of the richest country in the 
world, and only a week distant from 
the great Mother Land. The Canadian 
reader has a wide field. The writings of 
British and American authors are equal- 
ly acceptable to him, with those of his 
own country. Canada is by far the best 
foreign market that American book- 
sellers possess, taking nearly one-half 
of the total exportation of American 
books ; while the import of British, 
French and German books into Canada 
is very large. 

A Great Consuming Market. 

Such an inflow of outside literature 
operates to the development of the 
national intellect along very broad lines ; 
but it is a distinct detriment to the 
fortunes of the native author. Then 
there have been in the way serious copy- 
right difficulties perhaps not wholly 
overcome. 

The effect of the state of affairs 
which has governed during the last few 
years is seen in the fact that while 



Canada has given birth to several 
authors of great and growing renown, 
the best work of many of them has 
been done abroad. Then the early 
days of Canada were not favorable to 
literary activity. The life of the pio- 
neers was too strenuous and communi- 
cation too difficult to allow much devo- 
tion to letters. 

The first generation of their chil- 
dren received only a modest education, 
because of isolation and because of the 
urgent need by the parents of the chil- 
dren's help. The same things which 
tended to keep back literary develop- 
ment, bred a sturdy self-reliance and 
independence of character, and as soon 
as population increased so that schools 
became possible a new era set in and 
intellectual progress became rapid in 
spite of the many and great disadvan- 
tages. 

The Work of the Press. 

Perhaps the fierce political discus- 
sions of the early days of Canada were 
the greatest stimulus to mental activity. 
The Canadians have always had fine 
Parliamentary speakers. The fine old 
British precedents as to propriety of de- 
bate have been closely followed, and 
there has always been a great respect for 
constitutional argument. The speeches 
in Parliament and on the stump were 
well reported and diligently read in 
thousands of homes. The average 
Canadian farmer is a remarkably sound 
politician. He is as a rule far better in- 
formed on political affairs than is the 
dweller in cities. 

The press that supplied 'him his poH- 



26 a 



CANADA IN THE NINKTBBNTH CENTURY. 



tics was, as long as sixty years ago, 
quite as good as anything else in the 
world when the poverty of the field is 
taken into account. It is true that the 
press was, as it is to day, intensely par- 
itisan, but to that may be ascribed a 
great deal of the activity and alertness 
that characterizes the people. If the 
people were fed on a partisan diet, the 
dielt itself was rich and stimulating and 
bred a certain positiveness, the marks of 
which may endure for generations to 
come. 

The Literary Future. 

While it may readily be admitted that 
Canada has made more progress in cul- 
tivating her fields than in developing 
her mind, it must also be admitted that 
this was inevitable under the circum- 
stances. But nothing is more certain 
than that with wealth and leisure will 
come the literary graces. Canada really 
intends to be a power in the world, not 
only in the tables of imports and ex- 
ports, but in the swaying of the minds 
of men. In the order of nature physi- 
cal development must precede mental. 
Muscle and bone go before brain, and 
bread and butter must be considered 
before the muses. 

The Canadian people is still too 
young and too busy to have much of a 
record of intellectual achievement. But 
be it remembered that there is in them 
the blood of the most intellectual races 
in the world. Their ancestry is all right 
and their climate is such as to enforce 
mental activity. They are not the 
people to be satisfied with purely 
material greatness. Such progress as 
they have already made in the arts 
must be taken with all allowances for 
the circumstances. And when all these 



allowances are made it must be admit- 
ted that the achievement has been 
wholly creditable. 

Having regard for what has been 
done, it may confidently be predicted 
that the time will come when Canadian 
books will be as much sought after as 
is Canadian bacon ; when Canadian 
thought will be as widespread as are 
Canadian ships ; and Canadian litera- 
ture as stately a growth as the Canadian 
forest. 

The World of Letters. 

Let us see what Canada has done in 
the world of letters. Let us take the 
more serious studies first. 

Historians. 

The most important historical work 
produced in Canada has been Dr. Kings- 
ford's "History of Canada," in ten vol- 
umes. It is a thoroughly exhaustive 
work, bringing down the history to the 
time of the Union in 1841. Dr. Kings- 
ford died just as his last volume issued 
from the press, leaving a fine field for 
some equally painstaking successor to 
continue his work. The only history at 
all comparable with Kingsford's is Gar- 
neau's, which French and British critics 
pronounced a masterpiece, and Dr. R 
Christie's six volume history of Lower 
Canada. 

John M. McMullen's " History of Can- 
ada" is another very careful work, as is 
also H. H. Miles' " History of Canada 
Under the French Regime." 

There is also, edited by J. Castell 
Hopkins, a five-volume " Cyclopedia of 
Canadian History and Politics," which 
needs only enlargement to become a 
future standard work on Canadian 
history. Dr. W. H. Withrow, G. Mer- 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



A 27 



cer Adam and G. C. R. Tuttle have 
done some important historical work ; 
so has Prof. Bryce, whose " History of 
the Canadian People," ?nd " History of 
the Hudson Bay Company," are of very 
great value. 

Among other historical writers are 
ij^lexander Begg, J. B. Calkin, Duncan 
Campbell, Dr. CannifF, Abbe Casgrain, 
W. H. P. Clement, Lady J. D. Edgar, 
Abbe Faillon, Donald Gunn, J. Hannay, 
Gerald Hart, R. B. Hill, Prof. Hind, 
Dr. J. G. Hodgins, Thomas Hodgins, 
Q. C., H. Larue, W. Leggo, Sir James 
Lemoine, B. Murdoch, D. B. Read, Q. 
C, E. Reveillaud, E. Richard, Major 
Richardson, C. G. D. Roberts, C. Roger, 
Rev. E. Ryerson, H. B. Small, G. 
Auchinlech, W. Smith, W. H. Smith, 
Geo. Stewart, Rev. E. R. Stimson, 
Benjamin Suite, David Thompson, the 
Misses Lizars and L. R. Turcotte. 

Sir John Bourinot, Clerk of the 
House of Commons, has produced some 
good historical work. J. C. Dent's two 
books on "The Upper Canadian Rebel- 
lion and Canada Since the Union," 
are remarkable exhibitions of pains- 
taking research and luminous exposi- 
tion. 

Last among the historical works may 
be mentioned the " University of To- 
ronto Studies in History," edited by 
Prof Wrong and H. H. Langton. 
These are very able publications de- 
voted principally to reviewing works on 
Canadian History. 

British and Foreign Authors in 
Canada. 

First among the living historical and 
political writers in Canada must be 
placed Dr. Gold win Smith who, having 
passed in Canada more than half of the 



productive part of his life, may be 
claimed as a Canadian, at least to the 
same extent that Agassiz and some 
other foreign-born writers are claimed 
as Americans. Dr. Goldwin Smith has 
been a most prolific author. His writ- 
ings have been largely devoted to 
showing the extreme desirability from 
a material point of view of the closest 
possible union between the United 
States and Canada. In the meantime, 
all the public acts of the United States 
toward Canada have shown a deep- 
seated hostility and have tended to sep- 
arate the two nations instead of to join 
them, and the countries have indubit- 
ably been growing farther apart during 
the last quarter century. 

Pohtical History. 

As well as his writings on Canadian 
questions and much purely literary 
work. Dr. Goldwin Smith has written 
a " Political History of the United 
States," in which he sometimes takes 
the position of a very candid friend ; 
and a " Political History of the United 
Kingdom," which will probably be held 
to be his greatest work, as it embodies 
the results of a long life-time of keen 
study and is an entertaining as well as 
a deeply instructive work. 

Another eminent English-born writer 
who resided a long time in Canada and 
produced some of her work here was 
Mrs- Anna Jameson, author of "Sacred 
and Legendary Art." Her book, 
"Winter Studies and Summer Rambles 
in Canada," is one of the most pleasing 
works on Canadian home life. 

Then there was the talented Strick- 
land family. Out of six daughters, five 
, attained literary eminence. Two of 
j them, Susannah Moodie and and Cath- 



28 a 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



erine Parr Traill, came to Canada when 
the century was quite young and the 
latter died only a year or two ago, hav- 
ing nearly rounded out her hundred 
years of life. As long ago as 1825 these 
two ladies had made their mark in 
literature, and one of Mrs. Traill's best 
works, " Pearls and Pebbles," was pub- 
lished as lately as 1895, when she was 
considerably over 90 years old. She 
also wrote "Backwoods of Canada," 
and "Forest Trees and Wild Flowers." 
Her sister's most famous works are 
'• Roughing It in the Bush' ' and ' ' Flora 
Lyndsay." Colonel Strickland another 
member of the same family also settled 
in Canada and did much excellent liter- 
ary work. 

Any pronouncement on the progress 
of Canadian historical literature during 
the century would be very incomplete 
if it omitted to acknowledge the splen- 
did work done by Francis Parkman and 
by other careful American historians 
as John Gilmary Shea, W. L. Stone and 
Justin Winsor. Especially, it may be 
said of Parkman that he has linked his 
name forever with that of Canada in 
his imperishable volumes. 

Constitutional Writers. 

Canada has done some exceedingly 
good work in this field. Alpheus 
Todd's two works on Parliamentary 
government are valued wherever there 
are deliberative bodies. Sir John Bouri- 
not's books on Parliamentary procedure 
areaccepted as authoritative everywhere. 
A. H. Lefroy's book on " Legislative 
Power in Canada," is a most able trea- 
tise on the constitution. Other consti- 
tutional writers are Clement, Houston, 
Travis, O' Sullivan, Hon. David Mills, 
etc. 



Scientific Writers. 

Canada has made many valuable con- 
tributions to the literature of science. 
Among them may be mentioned Sir 
Daniel Wilson's works on Anthropol- 
ogy; Dr. McCaul's on Arckseology; Sir 
W. E. Logan's on Geology, and Prof. 
McCurdy's on Biblical Archaeology. Sir 
W. E. Logan was the first Director of 
the Canadian Geological Survey. He 
made some epoch-marking discoveries 
— some that lie at the foundation of 
modern geological science. He was ac- 
companied in the same field by Dr. 
Sterry Hunt, Messrs. Billings, Murray, 
Richardson, Vennor and others, and his 
work was continued by Dr. Selwyn, 
Robert Bell, J. F. Whiteaves, J. W. 
Spencer, B.J. Harrington, G. C. Hoff"- 
man and many others whose names are 
familiar to the readers of scientific pa- 
pers. The present director of the Sur- 
vey is Dr. G. M. Dawson, C. M. G., who 
has made many valuable additions to 
geological science. 

Prominent among the scientific writ- 
ers of the time was Sir J. W. Dawson 
who, thirty years ago, was very much 
alone in combatting the then rampant 
materialistic tone which the discussion 
on Evolution was taking. He wrote 
many very able books on the line of 
what has been called Christian Evolu- 
tion. He endeavored to deliver his 
favorite science, geology, from the bald 
materialistic speculations of the time 
and it is in no small degree owing to 
his efforts that there may be said to be 
to-day no school of science which be- 
lieves in the non-existence of a First 
Cause. 

In the field of botany Prof. Macoun 
has done much able and lasting work, 
and as an explorer Mr. J. B. Tyrrell is 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



A 29 



doing work in the Far North of Canada 
no less important than that achieved by 
Sir Alexander Mackenzie in the last 
years of the Eighteenth Century, and 
by Sir Geo. Simpson in the early part 
of the 19th. Mr. Warburton Pike also 
has done some intrepid exploring work 
and about it has written some very en- 
tertaining and modest books. The late 
J. G. Romanes, an eminent scientific 
writer who, while accepting modern 
science, kept his hold on his faith, was 
a Canadian, as are also Prof. Simon 
Newcomb, the eminent astronomer, and 
Dr. }. G. Schurman, President of Cor- 
nell University. 

The first, and some folk are still bold 
enough to say the best, of the distinct- 
ively American humorists was a thor- 
oughbred Nova Scotian. " Sam Slick " 
— or as he was known in the flesh. 
Judge Haliburton, of Halifax, is still 
excellent reading, full of racy humor 
and keen satire. Haliburton wrote 
many other books which exercised influ- 
ence in their day, but he will live as 
the author of the Yankee Clockmaker. 
Hundreds of humorists have come and 
gone, and will come and go, but Sam 
Slick is still to the fore. It is to be 
noted too that several other humorists 
who have achieved vogue in the United 
States were Canadians, for instance, 
Robert Barr (Luke Sharp) ; Bobert Bur- 
dette ; Mayor Lewis (M. Quad) ; G. T. 
I^anigan and many smaller lights. 

Poets and Poetry. 

The later years of the century in 
Canada have been brightened by the 
presence of a singularly able coterie of 
young lyricists. Chief among them 
were V/. W. Campbell, Bliss Carman. 
C. G. D. Roberts and Arch. Lampman, 



now dead. The works of all these 
young poets show delicacy of feeling, 
keen inspiration and wonderful facility 
of expression. Among Campbell's 
works are "Lake Lyrics," "The Dread 
Voyage," "Mordred and Hildebrand" 
and "Beyond the Hills of Dream." 
Carman's principal works are "Low 
Tide on Grand Pre," "By theAurelian 
Wall" and "Ballads of Lost Haven." 
Roberts' are, "New York Nocturnes," 
"Songs of the Common Day," "In 
Divers Tones" and "The Work of the 
Native." The works of Lampman 
have been gathered into a sumptuous 
memorial volume. 

An entirely new field has been opened 
by Mr. W. H. Drummond, who in his 
" Habitant" poems gives us an insight 
into the life of the French Canadian 
peasantry — a charming book, racy of 
the soil, sympathetic and strong. 

Among a long list of Canadian poet?, 
the following are worthy of note: Jean 
Blewett, Rev. E. H. Dewart, Sir. J. D. 
Edgar, C. E. Jakeway, Wm. James, 
Pauline Johnson, Marie Jonssaye, R. H. 
Kernighan, Evan MacColl, Miss Ma- 
char, Alex. MacLachlan, Charles Mair, 
J. R, Ramsay, Carroll Ryan, Charles 
Sangster, Charles Heavysege, F. G. 
Scott, Mrs. Harrison, Rev. W. W. 
Smith, R. G. Starke, J. S. Thomson, 
A. Weir, Ethel wyn Wetherald, G. W. 
Wicksteed. 

General Literature. 

Among the writers of solider ma- 
terial there is Principal Grant of Queen's 
University, by birth a Nova Scotian, a 
fine example of the scholar who keeps 
abreast of his times, and in touch with 
living issues. His book "Ocean to 
Ocean" is a graphic description of a 



30 a 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



trans-continental journey in ante-Cana- 
dian Pacific days. Along with him 
may be mentioned Dr. Ryerson, first 
Superintendent of Education in Upper 
Canada, who wrote a splendid book on 
"The United Empire Loyalists" and 
an autobiography. 

Let it not be forgotten that if the 
cheapness of literature is one of the 
greatest blessings of the age, that cheap- 
ness is due to two Canadians more than 
to any other two persons ; for it was 
George Munro, with his " Seaside 
Library," and J. W. Lovell with his 
"Lovell's Library" — both Canadians — 
who broke down antiquated bookselling 
arrangements which hampered alike 
author and public. 

Fiction— Historical and Other. 

The fiction writers of Canada have 
turned to historical subjects as naturally 
as they turned to their mother's milk. 
It was inevitable that they should do 
so. Canadian history is essentially at- 
tractive, inspiring and fruitful, and when 
we compare the work of our later writers 
with that of their American and British 
contemporaries it will be seen at a 
glance what a stride Canadian literature 
is making. 

Sixty or seventy years ago, some nota- 
ble contributions to historical fiction 
were made by Major Richardson, who 
is now principally known as the author 
of a very good history of the War of 
1812, but whose "Wacousta," "The 
Two Brothers" and "The Guardsman" 
were extremely popular in their day. 

In more recent fiction Canada has 
made a mark with Wm. Kirby's "Le 
Chien D'Or," published in 1877. This 
book may almost be said to have re- 
vived the fashion for novels dealing 



with the picturesque features of his- 
tory. Had it been published twenty 
years later and pitched in a little more 
sensational strain it would easily have 
distanced some of "the most popular 
novels" which now run into the hun- 
dreds of thousands of copies. 

Mrs. Mary Hartwell Catherwood has 
lecalled some striking pages of Cana- 
dian history in her " Romance of Bol- 
lard," and her stories of Mackinac. She 
is an industrious scholar and has ad- 
mirable skill, together with strong 
enthusiasm for Canadian subjects. 

Stories of Western Life. 

Mr. Gilbert Parker has done much for 
the good repute of the literature of his 
native land. Not only has he convinced 
Canadians that there are mines of liter- 
ary wealth in their history, but he has 
opened the eyes of all the world to the 
richness of those mines. His first 
sprightly stories of Northwestern life 
had prepared the way for the more sei- 
ious works, such as " The Seats of the 
Mighty" and "The Battle of the 
Strong," which fairly took the critics 
by storm, and were by many adjudged 
to be the best novels of their respective 
years. 

As well as the two books above men- 
tioned, Mr. Parker has written " The 
Trail of the Sword," "An Adventurer 
of the North," "The Trespasser," 
"Translation of a Savage," " Mrs. Fal- 
chion," and some others, as well as 
several volumes of bright and artistic 
short stories. He ranges over a wide 
field. 

Though intensely Canadian in fee 
ing, he is a thorough cosmopolitan i.v 
writing, and whether his scene is laid 
OD the breezy prairies, on the glaving 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



A 31 



Nile, or in a lyondon drawing room, he 
is equally at home. He is well-equipped 
meutallyand physically for many years 
to come. We may fairly hope that ex- 
cellent as has been his work there is 
better yet to come. 

Charles G. D. Roberts is another 
Canadian who has broken into the 
world's charmed circle. He has done 
much serious as well as some light 
work. His " History of Canada " will 
take its place among the standard works. 
A series of novels illustrating Acadia, 
"The Forge in the Forest," "A Sister 
to Evangeline," and several volumes of 
short stories are his principal contribu- 
tions to fiction. As a poet he has made 
a shining name. 

Robert Barr is an expatriated Cana- 
dian for whom, though, misunderstand- 
ing his native country, he has lately 
said some very spiteful things of her, 
no Canadian feels anything but respect 
and affection. His pen is facile — per- 
haps too facile, but for that his early 
newspaper training is to be blamed — 
but his matter is strong and its tendency 
is healthful. His best work is on a 
Canadian subject, "In the Midst of 
Alarms," and he has lately struck a 
vein of mediseval romance — "Tekla" 
and "The Strong Arm" which seems 
to suit him very well. 

Anglo-Indian Author. 

Sara Jeannette Duncan (Mrs. Cotes) 
is a Canadian bred Anglo-Indian author 
who has made a deep mark in light 
literature. She has keen perceptions, 
her style is vivacious and occasionally 
she uses the knife in so deft a way that 
even her victim must enjoy the insinu- 
ating stab. "The Adventures of an 
American Girl in London," with its 



sequel, "A Voyage of Consolation," are 
exceedingly bright books. "A Daugh- 
ter of To-day, " " Adventures of a Mem- 
Sahib " and "His Honor and a Lady " 
are more ambitious works and show her 
at her best. 

Grant Allen was born and educated 
in Canada and never ceased to consider 
himself a Canadian, though his literary 
work was done in London. He was a 
simple phenomenon in his faculty of 
mastering abstruse problems of science 
and presenting them in such a form that 
the ordinary unlearned reader could en- 
joy and profit by them. His scientific 
writings are immensely popular. 

As a fiction writer, while he temporar- 
ily went off after sensation and wrote 
some sex-novels which had a great run, 
he executed much other work that was 
of a wholesome tendency. He will prin- 
cipally be remembered, however, by his 
solider works, such as "The Colour 
Sense," "Evolutionist at Large," 
"Flowers and Their Pedigrees," 
"Science in Arcady," etc. 

Ideal Fiction. 

Among the newer Canadian writers 
is Rev. W. C. Gordon, who under the 
pseudonym of Ralph Connor has put 
forth "Black Rock" and "The Sky 
Pilot." If any one can imagine Bret 
Harte's stories purged of every thing 
objectionable and infused with a thor- 
oughly Christian spirit, he would come 
pretty near to comprehending Ralph 
Connor. The earnestness of Mr. Gordon's 
stories is unmistakable. He never has tc 
point his moral — the story itself does 
that irresistibly. He is probably achiev- 
ing more good than any other contempo- 
rary fictionist. His writings, though 
thoroughly imbued with the religious 



32 a 



CANADA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



spirit, never descend to the mawkish, 
and though they touch the innermost 
feelings of the heart, are never repel- 
lantly sentimental. He is one of the 
best living types of a thoroughly manly 
Christian, and the more work that can 
be got out of him the better for the 
world at large. 

Juvenile Literature. 

In the field of juvenile literature Can- 
ada has J. Macdonald Oxley who has 
written much. His work is somewhat 
in Henty's preserves and it loses nothing 
in comparison with that prolific Irish- 
man's books. 

Miss Lily Dougall, of Montreal, is a 
writer of serious fiction well known 
outside of the Dominion. Her princi- 
pal works are "Beggars All," "What 
Necessity Knows," "The Zeitgeist," 
and "The Mormon Prophet." 

William McLennan, of Montreal, has 
written several historical novels which 
have attained wide circulation. 

Among other Canadian writers of 
whom space forbids to give more than 
a brief mention are Mrs. "Seranus" 
Harrison, whose "Forest of Bourg- 
Marie" is a delightful tale of French- 
Canadian life. Mr. T. G. Marquis' 
"Marguerite de Roberval " turns on a 
very sad incident and converts it into a 
delightful book. Mrs. Joanna E. Wood, 
who has been described as the Miss 
Wilkins of Ontario, has written sev- 
eral excellent books describing Ontario 
life. 

In the same vein is a recent notable 
book, "House of Glass," by Wallace 
Lloyd (Dr. Alger, M.D.). Mr. W. A. 
Fraser, who has been an intimate friend 
of Kipling, has imbibed enough of his 
spirit to enable him to write very 



attractively of the Canadian animal 
world. Mrs. Henshaw and Clive Phil- 
lips-Wolley of British Columbia, Mr- 
Walsh of Montreal, and Miss Marshall 
Saunders of Halifax are a few out 
of many who ought to be written of 
in terms of highest commendation, 
but this list has to be brought to a 
©lose. 

It would be most unjust though were 
there no reference made to a group of 
short story writers who have done 
splendid work. Mr. E. W. Thomson, 
now of the " Youth's Companion," 
has published three volumes of short 
stories that will compare favorably 
with anything else of the same class. 
He is a brilliant writer, full of infor- 
mation and fancy and abounding in 
nervous strength. He is fully equal 
to more sustained work, and ought to 
essay it. 

Works on Animals. 

Another brilliant young Canadian is 
Ernest Seton Thompson whose "Wild 
Animals I Have Known," "Wahb," 
and "The Trail of the Sandhill Stag" 
have struck a sympathetic chord in th( 
heart of every animal-lover. Mr. Thomp- 
son' s insight into animal nature is pro- 
found. As well as a writer, he ^^ 
an extraordinarily good artist and ih 
lustrates his own works which deserve 
to be on the shelf with Burroughs. 
Thoreau, White of Selborne and the fev 
— very few, others to whom this prft- 
cious gift of knowledge of animals is 
confined. 

Out of a great number of successful 
short story writers may be named Stin- 
son Jarvis, Miss MacMurchy, Duncan 
Scott, F. G. Scott, Maud Ogilvy, Stuart 
Livingstone, etc. 




MIWW^^MWMi^AMMW^MMMfiMMMIMi 



m0 



POPULATION 



OF 



CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES 

Having 5000 or more Inhabitants in 1900, Compared with 
the Enumeration of 1890 




«i^%MMiMM«MW>*mMMMW>*WWMM«MMWWn«MMM*4 



ALABAMA. 

1900. 1S90. 

Annlston 9,695 9,998 

Bessemer 6.358 4,544 

Birmingham 38,415 26.178 

Moreuce 6,478 6,012 

Huntsville 8,068 7,995 

.Mobile 38,469 31,076 

Montgomery 30,346 21,883 

Helina. 8,713 7,622 

Tuscaloosa 5,094 4,215 

ALASKA. 

Nome City 12,486 

AKIZJNA. 

Fhopnis 5.544 ■ 3,152 

Tucson 7,531 5,150 

ARKANSAS. 

Fort Smitti 11,587 11.311 

Helena 5,550 5,189 

Hot Springs 9,973 8,08b 

Little Knck 38 3^(7 25 874 

Fine BluEfs 11,496 9,952 

CALIFORNIA. 

Alameda 16,464 11, 16?-. 

Beriieley 13.214 5.101 

Etna 7,327 4,858 

i-'resno 12.470 10,81S' 

Los Angeles.... 102, 479 50,395 

Oakland 66,960 48,682 

Fasadeua 9.117 4.8^? 

Pomona 5,526 3,634 

Biverside 7,973 4,683 

.Sacramento .... 29,282 26.386 
San Bernardino. 6,150 4,012 

San Diego 11, 'iw 16,l,.'j 

San Francisco.. 342.7S2 298. go-? 

San Jose 21. 500 18.0<".0 

Santa Barbara.. 6.5.s7 5,864 

Santa Cruz 5.6!^/.) 5.59i 

Santa Rosa 6,673 5,220 

Stockton 17,506 14, 42-) 

Vallejo 7,965 6.n!3 

Boulder C,150 3.3:!0 



COLORADO. 

IDOO. 1S90. 

Colorado Spr'gs. 21,085 11,140 

Cripple Creek... 10,147 

Denver 133,859 106.713 

Pueblo 28,157 24,558 

Trinidad 5,345 5,523 

CONNECTICUT. 

Ansonia 12,681 10,342 

Branford 5,706 4,460 

Bridgeport 70,996 48.886 

liristoi 6,286 (•) 

Uanbury 16,537 16,552 

Derby 7,930 5,969 

East Hartford.. 6,406 4,455 

Greenwich 12,172 10,131 

Groton 5,962 5,539 

Hartlord 79,850 63,230 

Ivillingly 6,835 7,027 

Manchester 10,601 8,222 

Meriden 24.296 21.G52 

-Middlctown 9,589 9.013 

Naugatuck 10,541 6,218 

New Britaiu.... 25,998 16,519 

New Haven 108.027 81.298 

New London. 17,548 13,757 

Norwalk 6,125 (')• 

Orance 6,995 4.537 

Putnam 6,667 C) 

Bockvillo 7,287 7,772 

Southington 5.890 5.501 

South Nortvalk.. 6,591 (') 

Stamford 15 997 15,700 

Stoninstnn 8,540 7,184 

Torrinjrton 8,360 4,283 

Wallingford .... 9,001 6,584 

W'aterbnry ^5,859 28,646 

West Haven.... 5,247 2,697 

Willimantic 8.937 8.648 

Wipsted 6,?01 4,846 

'Not separately reported. 

DELAWARE. 

Wilmington .... 76,508 61,431 



FLORIDA. 

1900. 
Jacksonville .... 28,429 

Key West 17,114 

Pensacola 17.747 

Tampa 15,839 

GEORGIA 

Americas ,, 7,674 

Athens ..., 10,245 

Atlanta 89,872 

Augusta 39,441 

Brunswick 9,081 

Columbus 17.614 

Griffin 6,857 

Macon 23,272 

Rome 7,291 

Savannah 54.244 

Thomasville .... 5.322 

Valdosta 5,613 

Waycross 5,919 

HAWAII. 

Honolulu 39,306 

IDAHO. 
Boise 5,957 

ILLINOIS. 

Alton ■ 14,210 

Aurora 24,147 

Belleville 17,484 

Belvidere 6,937 

P.loomington 23,286 

Blue Island 6,114 

Cairo 12.566 

Canton 6,564 

Centralia 6.721 

Chamoaign 9.098 

Cnarleston 5i4S8 

Chicago 1698.575 

Chicago Heiffbts 5,100 

Danville 16,354 

Decatur 20,754 

DeKalb 5.904 



1890. 
17.201 
18,080 
11,760 

5,532 



6,398 
8,639 

65,533 

33,300 
8,459 

17,303 
4,503 

22,746 
6.957 

43,189 
5.514 
2,854 
3,364 

22.907 

2,3U 



10,294 

19,(88 

15.361 
3,867 

20,484 
3,329 

10.324 
5,604 
4,763 
5,839 
4.135 
1099850 

ii*4'9i 

16,841 
2,579 



STATISTICS OF POPULATION. 



1900. iiS90. 

Dixon 7,9ir 5.1(i] 

East St. Louis.. 29,65& 15,169" 

Elgin 22,433 17»82S 

EvanstOD 19,259 

FreeiJOit 13.258 

Ijalena ..v. ... 5,005 
Oaxesburg . 18, tU? 

Harvey 5,395 

Jacksoaville .... 15,078 

Juliet 29,353- 

fciankakee 13.595 

Kewauee 8,382 

LaSalle 10,446 

Lincoln 8,962 

LUchtield ....... 5,918 

Macomb 5,375 

Mattoon 9,622 

Mollue 17,248 

JMonmouth 7,460 

Mouut Vernon... 5,216 
Murphysboro ... 6,463 

Ottawa 10,588 

Pana 5,530 

Paris 6,105 

PeUin 8,420 

Peoria 56.100 

Peru 6,863 

Ouiney .. 36,252 

Rockford 31,051 

Rock Island .... 19,493 

SpringUeld 34.159 

Spring Valley .. 6,214 

Sterling 6,309 

Streator 14,079 

Urbana 5,728 

Waukegan 9,426 

INDIANA. 

Alexandria 7,221 

Anderson 20,178 

Bedford 6,115 

Bloomington ... 6,'460 

Brazil 7,786 

Columbus 8,120 

Orawfordsville . 6,649 

Elkhart ,.; 15,184 

Elwood 12,950 

Evansvllle 59,007 

Fort Wayne 45,115 

Frankfort 7.100 

Gosben ... 7 810 

Greensburg 5,034 

Hammond 12.376 

Hartford ....T... 5,912 
Huntington .... 9.491 

Indianapolis 169,164 105. '•3'' 

Jeffersonville ... 10.774 10 6-f 

Kokomo 10,609 

Lafayette 18,116 

Larorte ... 7,113 

Log.nnsport 16.204 

Madison 7.835 

Mniion 17.337 

Michigan City .. 14.850 

Mlshnwaka 5.560 

Mount Vernon... 5.132 

Muncie 20.942 

Now Albany 20,^28 

Peru 8,463 

Princeton 6,041 

richmond 18.226 

Scvmour 6.445 

Sbclhyvllle 7.169 

Sfuith Bend 35.999 

Terre Haute 36,6''3 

Vnlparaiso 6,280 

Tincennes .. 10.249 

V'nhash 8.R18 

Washington — 8,551 
INDIAN TERRITORY. 

Ardmore , 5.681 

IOWA- 
Atlantic City.... 5,046 4.351 
Boone'. 8.880 -6.620 



lO.lStt 
5,63.^ 

i2,'935 

23,264 

9,02i 

4,56; 

9,85E 

6,725 

5,811 

4,052 

6,833 

12,00f 

5,93( 

3,23 

3,880 

9,98f 

5,07"; 

4,99i 

6,347 

41,024 

5.520 

31.49 

23,584 

IS.eSJ 

24.96 

3.83- 

5,824 

11,414 

3,511 

4,915 

715 

10,741 

3.351 

4,018 

5,905 

6,719 

6,087 

11,360 

2,28' 

50,756 

35,39.'' 

S.giP 

6,033 

5,428 

2,>8 

7,32 



87261 

16,243 
7.12P 

13.32" 
8.9.V 
8,769 

10.776 
3.371 
4.705 

11 345 

21-0"° 
7,02'^ 
3.0''*' 

16.60? 
5.3''7 
5.451 

21,819 

30.217 
5,090 
8.SS3 
5,11?; 
6,064 



I'JUO. Isw. 

Burlington 23^201 22,565 

Cedar Falls 5,319 3,459 

(Jedar Kapids... 25,656 18,020 

Centerville 5,256 3,668 

Clinton 22,683 13,61b 

Council Bluffs... 25,802 21,474 

Creston 7,752 7,20(. 

Davenport 35,254 26,872 

Des Moines.. 62,139 50,093 

Dubuque 36,297 30,311 

Fort Dodge....;. 12.1c2 4,8 1 

Fort Madison... 9.278 7,901 

Iowa City 7,987 7,016 

Keokuk 14,641 14,101 

Marshalltown .. 11,544 8,911 

Mason City f.,746 4,007 

Muscatine 14,073 11,454 

Oelwein 5,142 830 

OskaiOOSa 9,212 6,558 

Ottumwa 18.197 14,001 

Sioux. City 33,111 37,80t 

Waterloo 12,580 6,674 

KANSAS. 

Argentine 5,878 4,732 

Argonia 6,140 8,347 

/Vtchison 15.722 13,963 

Emporia 8,223 7,551 

Fort Scott 10,322 11,946 

Galena 10,155 2,496 

Hutchinson 9,379 8,6 

Jola 5,791 1,706 

Kansas City 51,418 38.316 

Lawrence 10,862 9,997 

Leavenworth ... 20,735 19,76? 

Newton 6,208 5,605 

Ottawa 6,934 6,248 

Parsons 7,682 6,736 

Pittsburg 10,112 6,697 

Topeka , .. 33.608 31,007 

Wichita 24 671 23.853 

Winfield 5,554 5,184 

KENTUCKY. 

Ashland 6,800 4,195 

Bellevue 6,332 3,163 

Bowling Green.. 8,226 7,803 

Covington 42,938 37.371 

Dayton 6,104 4,264 

Frankfort 9,487 7.89" 

Henderson 10.272 8,835 

Ilopkinsville ... 7,280 5,833 

Louisville 204,731161,129 

MaysvUle 6,423 5,358 

Newport 28,301 24.91" 

Owensboro 13.189 9.837 

Paducah ........ 19.446 12.79- 

Wlnchester 5,964 4,519 

LOUISIANA. 

Alexandria 5,648 2,861 

Baton Ronce .. 11.2''9 in.47« 

Lake Charles... 6.680 3.442 

Monroe 5.428 3.25H 

New Iberia.. . .6,815 3 44" 

New Orleans ,. .287,104 242,04' 

MAINE. 

Auburn . 12.951 l-'.2«o 

Augusta ll.fiss 10,527 

Bangor 21850 19. 10.^ 

Bath 10.477 8.723 

Bffldeford 16. i-^^ \i.*'" 

Brunswick 6.806 6.0i*> 

Calais 7:655 7.2<»'^ 

(Jacdiner : ."5.501 5.4'^i 

Lewiston .... 23.761 21.701 

Old town ... -5,763 5,312 

Portl.nnd .. .c 50 14!> Z''.''>' 
Rockland .... 8.150 8,174 

Saco 6.122 6.07 

South Portland.. 6.287 

Waterville .-. ... 9.477 7,107 
Westbrook 7.283 6,63? 

MARYLAND. 
Annapolis 8,402 7,604 



IQVO. 1690. 
E08,b57 434,439 
4,192 
12,729 



Baltimore . 

Cambridge B,l~i 

Cumberland 17,123 

Frederick 0,2S'J S,193 

l<'rostburg 5,274 3,804 

Bagerstowa 13,591 10,118 

MA.^iSACHUSETTS. 

Adams 11,134 9,213 

Amesbury 9,4<3 9,798 

Amuerst — 5,u28 4,512 

Audover 6,813 6,142 

Aji-iiugton . 8,b03 5,629 

Atnoi ... 7,061 6,319 

Attleboro 11,335 7,577 

Beverly 13,884 i0,821 

Blackscone 6,721 6,138 

Boston 560,892 448,4 ?7 

Braintree- 5,981 4,848 

Brockton .. 40,063 27,294 

Brookline 19,935 12,103 

Cambiidge 91,&86 70,028 

Chelsea 34,072 27,909 

Chicopee 19,167 14,050 

Clinton ..13,667 10,424 

Concord 5,652 4,427 

Dana 13,cb7 10,424 

Danvers 8,542 7.454 

Dedham 7,457 7,123 

Easthamptou ... 5,603 4,395 

Everett 24,336 11,068 

Fall River 104,863 74,398 

Kitohburg 31,531 22,037 

Framingham ....11,302 9,239 

Franklin 5,0i7 4,831 

Gardner 10,813 8,424 

Gloucester 26,121 24,651 

Gr't Barrlngton. 5,854 4,612 

Greenfield 7,927 5,252 

Haverhill 37,175 27,412 

Holyoke 45.712 35,637 

Hyde Park 13,244 10,193 

Lawrence 62.559 44,654 

Leomlster 12,392 7,269 

Lowell 94.969 '77,696 

Lynn 68,513 55,727 

Maiden 33,664 23,031 

Marlboro 13,609 13,805 

Medford 18,244 11,079 

Melrose 12,962 8,519 

Milford 11,376 8,780 

Milton 6,578 4.278 

Montague 6,150 6,296 

Natick 9,488 9.118 

New Bedford ... 62,442 40.733 

Newburyport ... 14,478 13.947 

Newton 33,587 24,397 

North Adams.... 24,200 16,074 

Nort'iampton ... 18.613 14 990 

North Attleboro. 7.253 6,727 

Nortbbridge .... 7,036 4,603 

Norwood 5.480 3.733 

Oinnge 5.520 4.568 

Palmer 7,801 6;520 

Ponbodv n.5"3 'O.l^^S 

Pittsfieid -21.766 17.281 

Plvmoutb 9.592 7,314 

Oiiiricy 23.899 16.723 

Revere 10.395 5.668 

i>nokland 5,327 5,213 

Snl(>m ... ... ... 35 p-0 30.^11 

Sancus 5.184 3 673 

.^nni'prville 61 613 40.152 

Sniincrficld 62.0-0 44 179 

Stoneham 6 107 6 155 

Taunton 31.i3i3 25.448 

\\;i'1ii:im 23.4S1 1S,707 

Wntertown 9.706 7.073 

X^'phster 8.R04 7.031 

Westfield 12.310 9.805 

West Snringfleld 7.105 5.077 

Winchendon 5,001 4,390 

Whitman 6. 1=^5 4.441 

Winchester 7,248 4.861 



STATISTICS OF FOPULAiiON. 



1900. lyjii. 

Woburn 14,254 13,499 

Woicester 118,421 84,655 

MICHIGAN. 

Adrian y,654 8,75o 

Alptua 11.SU2 11.283 

Auii Aibor 14,5U9 9,431 

Battle Ci-eek.... 18,5t)3 13, ly- 

Bay cay 2..,-s 2(.bj 

BeiitOQ Harbor.. 6,562 3,C92 

Cadillac 5,997 4,-)6l 

Chcbuygau 6,4S9 6,23. 

Coidwater G,21G 5,24', 

l>etioit 285,704 205, «7r) 

Escaiiaba 9,549 G,80S 

Flint 13,1U3 9,803 

Claud Kapids... 87,505 6u,27S 

Holiaud 7,790 3,945 

louia , 5,209 4,482 

Iron Mountain... 9,242 8,59;' 

Irouuood 9,705 7,7^. 

IsliiJeming 13,255 11,19. 

Jacksou 25,180 20,795- 

Kalamazoo 24,404 17,853 

Lansing lb, 485 13,10; 

Ludiuglon 7,166 7,517 

Mauislee 14,260 12,812 

Marquette 10 058 9,093 

Menominee 12,818 10,630 

Monroe 5,043 5,25s 

Mount Clemens. 6,576 4JAi 

Muskegon 20,818 22,702 

Negauaee 6,935 6.078 

Owosso 8,696 6,561 

Petoskey 5,285 2,872 

Poniiac 9,769 6,20^ 

Port Huron 19,158 ISB-lS 

Saginaw 42,345 40,322 

St. Joseph 5,155 3,733 

Sault Ste. Marie 10,538 5,760 
Traverse ..>...... 9,407 4.833 

West Bay City.. 13,ii9 12,981 

Wyandotte 5.1S3 3.817 

Ypsilauti 7,378 6,129 

MINNESOTA. 

Austin 5,474 3,901 

Brainerd 7,524 5,7u3 

Crook,ston 5,359 3,157 

Duliith 52,9C9 33.115 

Faribault .- 7.8C8 6,520 

Fergus, lalls 6,072 3,772 

Little Falls 5.774 2.354 

Mankato ' 10,599 8,S3S 

Minneapolis 202,718 164.73 

New Ulm 5,403 3,7 11 

Owatonna 5.561 3,841' 

Red Wing 7,525 , 0,291 

Kocbester 6,843 5,32i 

St. Paul 163.005 133.156 

Stillwater 12,318 11,200 

Winona 19.714 18.20b 

MISSI.SSIPPI. 

Biloxi 5,407 3,234 

Columbus C,ti4 4,559 

Greenville 7,624 6,658 

Jackson 7.S16 5,9' 

Meridi.iD 14.050 10,624 

NatLlu'z 12,210 10,101 

Vlck«burg 14,834 13.373 

MISSOURI. 

Aurora 6,191 3.482 

Brookliold ...... 5,484 4.5-17 

C&rtbuRe 9,416 7,981 

Cbiliieoihe 6,905 5,717 

Clinton 5,061 4.737 

Columbia 5.651 4,000 

D<? Soto 5.611 3.9no 

Hannibal 12,7S0 12,8'.7 

Independence ... 6.974 6.380 

Jopliu 26,023 9,9^.1 

Kansas City 163.752 132.716 

Kirksville 5,966 3.510 

.Louisiana 6,131 5.090 



1900. 1S90. 

Marshall 5,08() 4,7sy 

Mexico 5,099 4,2;»7 

Moberly 8,012 8,251 

Nevada .. 7,461 7,2ti2 

St. Joseph 102,979 52,324 

St. Louis 575,288 4.51,770 

Sedalia 15,2.31 14,086 

Springfield 23.267 21,8.50 

Webb 9,201 5,043 

MONTANA. 

Anaconda 9,4.53 ,3,975 

Butte 80,740 10,723 

Great Falls 14,980 8,979 

Helena 1U,770 13,8.84 

NEBRASKA. 

Beatrice 7,875 1.3,a30 

Fremont 7,241 6,747 

Grand Island 7, .5.54 7,.586 

Hastings 7,188 13,584 

Kearney 5,634 8,073 

Lincoln 40,169 55,].54 

Nebraska City 7,880 11,940 

Omaha 102,5.55 110,4.52 

South Omaha 2t;,001 8,062 

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

Berlin 8,886 8,729 

Concord 19,682 17,004 

Dover 18,207 12,790 

Fraukilu 6,846 4,US5 

Keeue 9,165 7,440 

Laconia 8,042 6,143 

Manchester 5C.9b7 44,126 

Nashua 2.3,898 19,811 

Portsmouth 10,637 9,827 

Rochester 8,466 7,896 

Somersworth 7,023 6,207 

NEW JERSEY. 

Atlantic City 27,888 13,056 

Bavouue 82,722 19,033 

B'oomfleld 9,668 7,708 

Bridgeton 13,912 11,424 

Burlington 7,892 7,264 

Camden 76,985 58,818 

East Orange 21,606 13,282 

Elizabeth 52,180 87,764 

Gloucester 6,840 6,564 

Hackensack 9,448 6,004 

Harrison 10,596 8,888 

Hobokeu 59,.364 4.3,648 

Jersey citv 206,4.3:3 16.3.uuo 

Kearney 10,806 ....' 

Long Branch 8,872 7,281 

MlUville 10,683 10,002 

Montclair 13,962 8,656 

Morrlstown 11,267 8,156 

Newark 246,070 181,880 

New Brunswick 20,006 18,608 

Orange 24,141 18,844 

Passaic 27,777 18,028 

Paterson 1U5,171 78,847 

Perth Ambov 17,699 9,512 

Philllpsburg 10,062 8,644 

Plaiutteld 15,869 11,267 

Railway 7,9.35 7,105 

Salem 5,811 6,516 

South Ambov 6,349 4,830 

Trenton 78,407 57,458 

Union 15,J87 10,643 

WestHoboken 28,094 11,665 

NEW MEXICO. 

Albuquerque 6,238 3,7S5 

Santa Fe 5,603 6,185 

NEW YORK. 

.\inany 94,151 94.923 

.Amsterdam 20,929 17,336 

.Auburn 30,345 25,858 

Hatavia 9,180 7,221 

r.injiliamton 39,647 35,00" 

Cnnatidaigua ... 6,151 5.868 

Cafskill 5,484 4,92(- 

Colioes ...^ 23.910 22,509 

Corning 11.0„i 8 55o 

Cortland 9,014 8.590 

DuuUirk 11,616- 9,416 



1900. ItlSO.- 

Elmira 35,872 30.893 

Fulton 5,281 4,214 

Geneva 10,433 7,557 

Glens Falls.. 12,613 9,509 

Gloversvllle 18,349 13,864 

Haveistraw .,,. 6,935 5,070 

HerUimer 5,555- 

HuosieK Falls... 6,671 7,014 

Hornelisvilie .'. . 11,918 ro,996 

Huasoil ., 9,528 9,9<0 

luou ....;}■ •■ 5,138 4.-057 

itnuca, ■:• ; I3,i36 11,097 

Jamestown 22,892 16,038 

Jonustown 10,130 7,768 

liingstou 24,535 21,261 

Lanslngbui-g .... 12,595 10,550 

Little Falls . 10,381 8,7&3 

Lockpovt 16,58r 16,038 

Malone 5,935 4,986 

Matteawan 5,807 4,278 

J.i,xuIetown 14,522 ll,977 

Mount Vernon... 20,346 10,839 

Newburg. 24,943 23,087 

New York 343/202 1515301 

Niagara Falls... 19,457 

No. Tonawanda. 9,069 4,79.1 

Norwich 5,766 5,212 

Ogdensburg .... 12,633 11,662 

Oiean 9,462 7,358 

Oneida 6,364 6.083 

OneonLa 7,147 6,27-2 

Oswego 22,199 21,842 

Owego 5,039 

Peekskill 10,358 9,676 

Plattsburg 8,434 7,010 

Port Chester 7,440 5,274 

Port Jervis 9,385 9 327 

Pougbkeepsie ... 24.029 22,206 

Rensselaer 7,466 7,301 

Rochester 162,608 133,896 

Rome 15,343 14.991 

Saratoga Sprgs.. 12,409 11 9/5 

Schenectady 31,GS2 19,902 

Seneca Falls 6,519 6,116 

Sing Sing 7,939 9,3 2 

Syracuse 108,374 88.143 

Tonawanda 7,421 7,145 

Troy 60,051 60,956 

IJtica 56,383 44,007 

\Y.ntertown 21,696 14.72Fi 

Watervliet 14,321 12,967 

White Plains.... 7.899 4.042 

Yonkers 47,931 32,033 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

Ashevllle 14,694 10,235 

Charlotte 18,091 11,557 

Concord 7,910 4,339 

Durham 6,679 5,48g 

ICiizabetb City.. 6.318, S,25i 

GoldsL)oa-o 5,877 4,017 

Greensboro 10.035 3.317 

Newbern 9,090 7.843 

Raleiirh .". . 13.643 12.678 

Salisbury 6,277 4.418 

Wilmington ... 20,976 20.056 

Winston 10,008 8,018 

NORTH DAKOTA. 

Fargo 9.5.S9 5.664 

Grand Forks... 7,G52 4.979 

OHIO. 

Akron 42,728 27.r01 

Alliance • 8,974 7'^07 

Ashtabula '. 12,949 8,338 

Bedford 9,912 9,934 

ru-ilefontaine ... 6,649 4,245 

Bowling Green. 5,067 3,467 

Buckeve Citv.... 6,560 5,974 

Cambridge 8,241 4,361 

Cannl Dover.... 5.422 3,470 

Canton 30,667 26.189 

CLillicotbe 12,976 '11,288 



STATISTICS OF POPULATION. 



1900. ism. 

Ciuc'innati 525,902 296,908 

OircU.-ville .. . 6,991 6,£56 

Cleveland 381,768 261.333 

Columbus .. .125,560 88,150 

Couneaut . .. 7,133 3,241 

CosboctOD . . C,473 3.672 

Dayton . .. 85,333 61,220 

Deliauce ... 7,579 7,C94 

Delaware 7,940 8.224 

East Liverpool 16,485 10,956 

Elyria . 8,791 5,611 

Findlay . .. 17,613 18,553 

Ko.storia' •. 7.730 7,070 

1 remont .. 8,439 7,141 

Gallon 7,282 6,326 

Gallipolis 5,432 4,498 

Glenville 5,583 

Greenville 5,501 -5,473 

Hamilton 23,914 17,565 

Ironton 11,868 10,939 

Kenton 6,852 5,557 

Liancaster 8,991 7,555 

Lima , 21,723 15,981 

Lorain .......... 16,028 4.863 

Mansfield 17,640 13.473 

Marietta 13,348 8.273 

Marion 11.862 8,327 

Martin's Ferry.. 7,760 6,250 

Massillon 11,944 10,092 

Middletown 9,215 7,681 

Mount Vernon .. 6,633 6,027 

Nelsonville 5,421 4,558 

Net\ark 18,157 14,270 

Newburg 5,909 

New Phila'pbia. 6,213 4,456 

Niles 7,468 4,289 

Norwalk 7,074 7,195 

Noi-wood 6,480 

Painesville 5,024 4,755 

Piqua 12,172 9,090 

Portsmouth 17,870 12,394 

St. Mary's. 5,359 3,000 

Salem 7,582 5,780 

Sandusky 19,664 18.471 

Sidney 5,688 4,850 

Springfield 38,253 31,895 

Steubenville ...14,349 13,394 

TiflBn 10,989 10,801 

Toledo 131,822 81,434 

Troy 6,881 4,494 

Urbana 6,808 6,510 

Van Wert 6,422 5,512 

Warren 8,529 5,973 

Wash'ton C. H.. 5,751 5,742 

Wellston 8,045 4,377 

West Alexandria 6,146 6,247 

Woodville 6,063 6.901 

Xenia 8,696 7,301 

Youngstown .... 44,885 33,220 

Zanesvllle 23,538 21,009 

OKLAHOMA. 

Guthrie 10,006 5,733 

Oklahoma City.. 10,037 4,151 
OREGON. 

Astoria 8,381 6,184 

Baker City 6,663 2,604 

Portland 90,426 46,385 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

Allegheny 129,896 105,287 

Allentown 35,416 25,228 

Altoona 38,973 30,337 

Archbald » 5,396 4,032 

Ashland 6,438 7,346 

Beaver Falls.... 10,054 9,73s 

Bethlehem 7,293 6,672 

Bloomsburg 6,170 4,635 

Braddock 15,654 8,561 

Bradford 15,629 10,514 

•Bristol 7,104 6,553 

Butler., 10.853 8,734 

Carbondale 13,536 10.833 

Carlisle 0,626 7,620 



woo. 1890. 

Carnegie 7,330' 

(JhaLuue'rsbuig . S,SG4 7,W.i 

Lharleioi 5,930 

Chester 33,988 20.22tl 

Cleartield 5,081 2,24S 

Coatesville 5,721 3,6S0 

Columbia 12,316 10.599 

Counellsville ... 7,160 5,628 

Con.shohocken .. 5,762 5,740 

Corry 6,369 5,677 

Danville 8,042 7,998 

Dubois 9,375 6,149 

Dunmore 12,583 8,315 

Duqucsne 9,036 

Easton 25,238 14,481 

Edwardsville ... -5,165 3,284 

Erie 52,733 40,634 

Etna 5,384 -3,767 

Franklin 7,317 6,221 

Freeland 5,254 1,730 

(ireensburg 6,508 4,202 

Hanover 5,302 3,746 

Harrisburg 50,167 39,385 

Hazleton 14,230 11,872 

Homestead , 12,554 7,911 

Huntington 6,053 5,729 

Jeannette 5,865 3,296- 

.7ohnstOU-n 35,936 21,805 

Ivane 5,296 2,944 

Lancaster 41,459 32,011 

Lebanon 17,628 14,664 

Lock Haven .... 7,210 7.358 

McKeesport 34,227 20,741 

McKeos Rocks.. 6,352 1,687 

Mahanov Citv... 13,504 11,286 

Meadvil'le 10,291 9,520 

Middletown ..... 5,608 5,0S0 

xMillvale 6,736 3,800 

Milton 6,175 5,317 

Monongahela ... 5,173 4,096 

Mount Carmel... 13,179 8,254 

Nanticoke 12,116 10,044 

New Brighton... 6,820 5,616 

Newcastle 28,339 11.600 

Norristown 22,265 19,791 

North Braddock. 6,535 

Oil City 13,264 10,932 

Old Forge 5,630 

Olyphant 6,180 4,083 

Philadelphia ...12936971046964 

Phoenisville ..... 9,196 8,514 

Pittsburg 321,616 238.617 

Pittston 12,556 10,302 

Plymouth 13,649 9.344 

Pottstown 13,696 13,285 

Pottsville 15,710 14,117 

Reading .' 78,961 58,661 

Sayre 5,243 

Scranton 102,026 75,215 

Shamokin 18,202 14,4p3 

Sharon 8,918 7,459 

Sharpsburg 6,842 4,898 

Shenandoah .... 20,321 -15,944 

S. Bethlehem .. 13,241 10,302 

Skeelton 12,086 9,250 

Sunbury 9,810 -5,930 

Tamaqua 7,267 6,054 

Tarentum 5,472 4.627 

TitiTSville ■«8,244 8,037 

Tvrone %M7 4,705 

Uniontown T,344 6,359 

Warren 8,043 4,332 

Washington ...... 7,670 7.063 

Wavnesboro .... 5,395 3.811 

West Chester... 9,524 8.028 

West Pittston... 5.846 3,906 

Wllkesbarre 51,721 37,718 

Wilkinsburg .... 11,886 4.662 

Williamsport ... 28.757 27.132 

York 33,708 20,793 

RHODE ISLAND. 

Bristol 6,901 5,47» 

Burrlllvllle 6.317 5,492 



190(1. 1S90. 

Central Falls.... 18,1 < 

Coventry 5,L'7'.' 5,0fis 

F.iist Providence 12,l3^ 8,422 

Lincoln 8,937 20,355 

Newport ., 22,034 19, 45- 

I'awtucket 39,2ol 27,633 

Providence 175,597 132,146 

Warren 5,108 4,489 

Warwick 21,316 17,761 

Westerly 7,541 6,813 

Woonsocket 28,204 20,830 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Anderson 5,498 3,018 

Charleston 55,807 54,955 

Columbia 21.108 15,353 

Greenville 11,860 8,607 

Rock IJill 5,485 2,744 

Spartanburg .... 11.395 5,544 

Sumter 5,673 3,8C6 

Union 5,400 1,609 

SOUTH DAKOTA, 

Lead City 6.210 2.581 

Sioux Falls 10,256 10,177 

TENNESSEE. 

Bristol 5,271 3,324 

Chattanooga 30.154 29,100 

Clarksville 9,431 7,924 

Columbia 6,052 5,370 

Jackson 14,511 10,039 

Knoxville 32,637 22,535 

Memphis 102,320 64,495 

Nashville 80,865 76,168 

TEXAS. 

Austin 22,258 14,575 

lieaumont 9,427 3,296 

Bonham 5,042 3,361 

Breuham 5,968 5,209 

Brownsville 6,305 6,134 

Cleburne ........ 7,493 3,278 

Corsicana ,. 9,313 6,285 

Dallas 42,638 38,067 

Denison 11,807 10,958 

El Paso 15,906 10,338 

Fort Worth 26,688 23,076 

Gainesville 7,874 6.594 

Galveston- 37,789 29.084 

Greenville 6,860 4,330 

Hillsboro 5.346 2,541 

Houston -. 44,633 27.557 

Laredo 13,429 11,319 

Mar.shall 7,855 7,207 

Palestine 8,297 5,838 

Paris 9,358 8,254 

San Antonio 53,321 37,673 

Sherman 10,243 7,335 

Temple 7,065 4,047 

Terrell 6.330 2,988 

Texarkana 5,256 2,852 

Tvler 8,069 6.908 

Waco 20,686 14,445 

UTAH. 

Logan '5,451 4,5&5 

Ogden 16,313 14,889 

Provo 6.185 5,159 

Salt Lake City.. 53,531 44,843 

VERMONT. 

Barre 8,448 4,146 

Bennington .... 5 656 3,971 

Brattleboro 5,297 5,467 

Burlington 18.640 14.590 

Montpelier 6,266 4.160 

Rutland 11.499 11,760 

St. Albans' 6.239 

St. Johnsbury... 5,666 3.857 

VIRGINIA. 

Alexandria 14,528 14,339 

Charlottesville . 6,449 5.591 

Danville 16,520 10,305 

Fredericksburg . 5,068 4,528 

Lynchburg 18,891 19,70» 



STATISTICS OP rorULATlON. 



1000 

Maucliester 9,715 

Mi'ivport News.. 19,635 

Norfolk 4G,624 

PtMorshurg 21,S'10 

Portsmouth 17,427 

Kichmond 85,050 

Uoanoke 21,495 

Stauntoa 7,289 

Winchester 5.161 

WASHINGTON 

Everett 7,838 

New Whatcom.. 6,834 

Seattle 80,671 

Spokane 3G.84S 

Tacoma 37,714 

Walla Walla ... 10,049 
WEST VIRGINIA 

Charleston 11,099 

Fairmont 5,655 

Grafton ...„^ ...... 5,650 



1890. 

9,246 

4,449 

34,871 

22,680 

13,268 

81,388 

16,159 

6,975 

6,196 



42.837 

19,922 

36,006 

4,709 

6,742 
1,023 
3,159 



1900. 1890. 

Huntington 11,923 10,108 

Martinsbnrg 7,564 7,226 

Moundsvilie 5,362 2,688 

Parkersburg 11,703 8,408 

Wheeling 38,878 34,522 

WISCONSIN.. , 

Anligo 5,145' 4,424 

Appleton 15,085 11,869 

Ashland ........ 13.074 9,956 

Baraboo 6,751 4,605 

Beaver Dam...,. 5,128 4,222 

Belolt 10,436 6,315 

Chi))pewa FalLs. 8,094 8,670 

Eiui CInire 17,517 17,415 

Fond du Uic 15,110 12,024 

Green Bay . 18,684 9.069 

Janesvillp 13,185 10.836 

Kaukauna .5,115 4,667 

Kenosha 11,606 6,532 

La Crosse 23,895 25,090 

Madison 19,164 13,426 



1900. 18^^\ 

Manitowoc 11,785 7,718 

Marinette 16,195 11,523 

Marshfield '5,240 3,4B0 

Menasha 5,589 4,581 

Menomonle 5,655 5,491 

Merrill 8,537 6,809 

Milwaukee 2S3,3l5 204,468 

Neenah 5,954 5,083 

Oconto 5,646 5,219 

Oshkosh 2«,284 22,838 

Portage 5,459 5,143 

Racine 29,102 21,014 

Sheboygan .22,962 16,359 

Stevens Point... 9,524 7,896 

Superior 31,091 11,9S3 

Watertowa 8,437 8,755 

Waukesha 7,419 6,321 

Wausau 12,354 9,253 

WYOMING. 

Cheyenne 14,087 11,690 

Laramie 8,207 6,388 



CHRONOLOGY OF PROGKESS IN ELECTRICITY. 



[Data obtained from historical 

Electric current discovered, by Alle- 

sandro Volta 1800 

Arc light produced by Sir Humphrey 

Davy '. 1810 

Induction discovered by Faraday 1831 

First electric road built by Thomas 

.Davenport of Brandon, Vt 1835 

Automobile invented by Davenport 1835 

Wheatstone and Cooke system of te- 
legraphy invented 1835 

Zinc-copper battery invented by DanieU.1836 
Submarine cable laid across Hoogly river.1839 
First Morse telegraph line constructed.. 1844 
Printing telegraph system invented by 

Royal House 1345 

Automatic repeaters invented 1848 

First long submarine cable laid in Btit- 

Ish channel 1850 

First successful Atlantic cable laid 1858 

Electrolytic copper refining Invented by 

James Elklngton 1863 

Stearns' duplex telegraph system intro- 
duced 187a 

Edison's quadruplex system introduced. .1874 
First modern electric road built by 

George F. Greene of Kalamazoo, Mich. 1875 
Telephone Invented by Bell and Gray... 1875 



number of Electrical Review.] 

Continuous "^current dynamo discovered 
by G ra mme 1876 

First telephone exchange operated at 
New Haven, Conn 1'878 

Incandescent lamp invented by Edison.. 1879, 

First central lighting station established 
in Pearl street. New York 1880 

Storage battery, or accumulator, invent- 
ed by Plants 1882 

First practical trolley line built by J. 
C. Henry in Kansas City 1884 

First European electric road built in Ber- 
lin by Siemens Bros , 1884 

Electricity Hrst used on elevated roads 
in New York 1886 

First long-distance, high-voltage power- 
transmission plant installed at Po- 
mona, Cal 1892 

Telautograph invented by EUsha. Gray.. 1893 

Heavy trains moved by electric locomo- 
tives in Baltimore 1895 

The X-ray discovered by Dr. Wilhelm 
Konrad Roentgen 1SS5 

Road automobiles come into general use. 1897 

Transatlantic telephony made possible by 
Dr. M. I. Pupln 1900 

Improved storage battery for automo- 
biles Invented by Edison 1901 



STATISTICS GI" POruLATIOK. 



POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES AT EACH CENSUS (1850-1900). 
fFrora the reports of the superintendents of the census.] 



State or 

TERHlTORy, 


1900. 


1890. 


1880. 


1870. 


1860. 


1850. 


Alabama 

Arkansas 


18 
25 
21 
31 
29 
42 
32 
11 
43 

3 

8 
10 
22 
12 
23 
30 
26 

7 

9 
19 
20 

5 
41 
27 
45 
36 
16 

1 

15 
39 

4 
85 

2 
34 
24 
37 
13 

6 
40 
38 
17 
33 
2S 
14 
44 


1.828,697 
1,311.564 
1,485.053 

5;^9.7ft0 

1108.42(: 

184.735 

528.542 
2.216.331 

161.772 
4.821.550 
2.516.462 
2,231,853 
1,470,495 
2,147,174 
1,381,625 

604,406 
,1,188,044 
2,805.346 
2,420,982 
1,751.394 
1,551.2:0 
3.106.665 

213,3-39 

1.066,300 

42.335 

411. .588 
1,883.66!! 
7,268.894 
1,893.810 

319.146 
4,157.545 

413.536 
6.302,115 

428.556 
1,340.316 

401,570 
2.020.616 
3,048.710 

276,749 

343,641 
1.854.184 

518,103 

958.800 

2,069.042 

92,531 


17 
24 
22 
31 
29 
41 
32 
12 
43 

3 

8 
10 
19 
11 
25 
30 
27 

6 

9 
20 
21 

5 
42 
26 
45 
33 
18 

1 

16 
39 

4 
38 

2 
35 
23 
37 
18 

7 

40 
36 
15 
34 
28 
14 
44 


1.513.017 

1,128,179 

1,203,130 

412,198 

746,2.58 

168,493 

391,422 

1,837.353 

84,385 

3,826,351 

2,192,404 

l,911,89t; 

1,427,096 

1.858,635 

1,118,58; 

661,086 

1.042,390 

2,2.38,943 

2,093,880 

1,301 ,82P 

1.289,(i00 

2,679,184 

132,159 


17 

25 
24 
35 
28 
37 
34 
13 


1,262,505 
802.52.) 
864.694 
194.32; 
i;22,700 
146.608 
269,493 

1,542,180 


16 
26 
24 

'25' 
34 
33 
12 


996,992 
484,471 
560,247 
39,864 
537,454 
125,015 
187,748 
1,184,109 


13 
25 
26 

'24' 
32 
31 
11 


964,201 

435,450 
379,994 
34,277 
460.147 
112,216 
140,424 
1,057,28c 


12 
26 
29 


771,623 

209,897 


California 


92,597 


Colorado 




Connecticut 

Delaware 


21 

30 

31 

9 


370,792 
91 532 


Florida 


87,445 


Georgia 


906,185 


Idaho 




Illinois 


4 

6 

10 

20 

8 

22 

27 

23 

7 

9 

26 

18 

5 


3.077.871 

1,978.301 

1,624,615 

996.096 

1,648,690 

939,946 

648,93C 

934,943 

1.783 0S5 

1,636,937 

780.773 

1,131,597 

2,168,380 


4 

6 
11 

29 
8 
21 
23 
20 
7 
13 
28 
18 
6 


2,539,891 

1,680.637 

1,194,020 

364,399 

1,321,011 

726,915 

626,915 

780,894 

l,45t,351 

1,184,059 

439,706 

827,922 

1,721.295 


4 

6 
20 
33 

9 
17 
22 
19 

7 

16 
30 
14 

8 


1,711,951 

1,350,428 
674,913 
107,206 

1,155,684 
708.002 
628,271 
687,049 

l,231,0t;6 
749.113 
172,023 
791.305 

1,182,012 


11 

7 
27 


851,470 
988,416 


Indiana 


Iowa 


192,214 


Kansas 




Kentucky 


8 
18 
16 
17 

6 
20 
33 
15 
13 


982.405 


Louisiana 


517,762; 




583,169 


Maryland 


583,034 


Massachusetts.... 


994,514 
397,654 
6,077 
606,526 
682,044 


Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 


Montana 




Nebraska 


1,058,910 
45,761 

376,530 
1,444.9.^3 
5,997,853 
1,617,947 

182 719 


30 
38 
31 
19 

1 
15 


452,402 
62,266 

346,991 
1,131,116 
5,082,871 
1,399,750 


35 
37 
31 
17 
1 
14 


122,993 

42,491 

318,300 

906,096 

4,382,759 

1,071,361 


35 
36 
27 
21 
1 
12 


28,841 
' 6,857 
326.073 
672,035 
3,880,735 
992,622 






Nevada 






New Hampshire.. 

New Jersey 

New York 


22 

19 

1 

10 


317,976 

489,555 

3,097 394 


North Carolina... 
North Dakota 


869,039 


Ohio 


3,672,316 
313.767 

5,258,014 
345,501' 

1.151,149 
328,808 

1,767,518 

2,235,^23 
207,905 
332,422 

l,6i5,9S0 
349,890 
762,794 

1,680,880 
60,705 


3 
36 

2 
33 
21 


JJjl98,062 
174,768 

4,282,891 
276,531 
995,577 


3 

36 

2 

32 

22 


2,66.5,2o0 
90,923 

3,521,951 
217,353 
705,606 


3 
3-4 

2 
29 
18 


2,339,511 
62,465 

2,906,215 
174,620 
703,708 


3 

32 

2 

28 

14 


1,980,329 
13 294 


Oregon 


Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island. ... 
South Carolina.. . 
South Dakota 


2,311,786 
147,545 

668,507 


Tennessee..., 

Texas 


12 
11 


1,542,359 
1,591,749 


9 
19 


1,258,520 
818,579 


10 
23 


l,i09,86i 
604,215 


5 

25 


1,002,717 
212,59a 


Utah 


Vermont 


32 
14 


332,2,86 
1,512,665 


30 
10 


330,551 
1,225,163 


28 
5 


315.698 
1,596,318 


23 
4 


314,120 


Virginia 


1,421,061 


Washington 




West Virginia 


29 
16 


618,457 
1,315,497 


27 
15 


442,014 
1,054,670 










Wisconsin 


15 


775,881 


24 


305,391 


Wyoming 






















The states 




74,610,523 




62,110,811 




49,371..340 




38,155,505 




31,218,021 




23,067,262 








Alaska 


7 
6 


63.592 
122,931 


6 
5 




















Arizona 


59,620 


J3 
3 
1 


40,440 
1.35,177 

177,624 


9 
8 
1 


9,658 

14,181 

131,700 










Dakota 


6 
2 


4,837 
75,080 






Dist. of Columbia 
Hawaii 


3 
.5 


278.718 
154,001 


1 


23!),.392 


2 


51,687 


Idaho 




......... .. 


32,610 


7 












Indian Territory. 


2 


392,060 


2 




8 


14,999 










Montana 




39.159 
119,565 


6 
2 












New Mexico 

Oklahoma 


4 
1 


19.5.310 
398,:S31 

91,219 


3 
4 


153..5"3 
61,834 


7 

4 


20,595 
91,874 


1 


93,516 


1 


61,.W 


Persons in sorvico 
of the U.S. sta- 
tioned abroad... 














Utah 












143,963 
7.5,116 

20,789 


■■5" 
10 


■ ■ 8t',,780 

23,9.55 

9,118 


■■5" 


40.273 
11,594 




11,380 


Washington 










5 
9 


Wyoming 
































The territories.. 




1.604.913 


....( 


505,439 




784,443 





402,866 




.225,300 




124,614 


United States... 




76,303,387 


....| 02,622.250 




50,1.55,7^3 


. . . .] 3S,5.58,371 




.31,443,321 




23,191,876 


Per cent of gain.. 


21, 


24. y 




30.08 


22.65 


85. .58 


35.86 



Note— The narrow column under each census year sht)ws the order of the states and 
territories when arrange<l according to magnitude of population. 



POPULATION OF fUE UNITED STATES AT EACH CENSUS (1790-1840). 
[From tlie reports of the superintendents of the census-] 



STATE on 

Teuiutouy. 


1S40. 


1S30. 


IS'JO. 


1810 


1800. 


1790. 




12 

25 


590.756 
97,574 


15 

27 


309,527 
30,388 


19 lOT.qoi 












Arkansas 


25 


14,273 




















































Connecticut 

Dehiware 


20 
26 
27 

y 


309.978 
78,085 
54,477 

091,392 


16 
24 
25 
10 


297,675 
76,748 
34,730 

516,823 


14 

22 


275.248 
72,749 


9 
19 


261,942 

• 72,074 


8 
17 


251,002 
64,273 


8 
16 


237,964 
<w,096 






(leorgia.... 


11 


340.989 


11 


252,433 


12 


162.686 


13 


82,548 




14 
10 

28 


476,183 

C85.86(i 

43.112 


20 
13 


157,445 
343,031 


24 
18 


55,211 

147,178 


23 
21 


12.282 
24,520 












20 


5,641 






Iowa 




























6 
19 
13 
15 

8 
23 


779,828 
352,411 
501,793 
470,019 
737.699 
212,267 


6 
19 
12 
11 

8 
26 


687,917 
215,739 
399,455 
447,040 
610,408 
31,639 


6 

17 
12 
10 


664.317 
153.407 
298,.335 
407,350 
523.2S7 
8.765 


7 
18 
14 
8 
5 
24 


406,511 
76,556 
228,705 
380,546 
472,040 
4,762 


9 


220,955 


14 


73,677 






Maine 

Maryland 


14 
7 
5 


151,719 

341,548 
422,845 


11 
6 
4 


96,540 
319,728 


Massactmsetts — 


378,787 




, 








Mississippi 

Missouri 


17 
16 


375.651 
383.702 


22 
21 


136,621 
140,455 


21 
23 


75,448 
66,586 


20 

22 


40,352 
20,845 


19 


8,850 






































































New Hampshire.. 

New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina... 


22 

18 

1 

7 


234..574 

373,306 

2,428,921 

753,419 


18 
14 
1 
5 


269,328 

320,823 

1,918,608 

737,987 


15 

13 

1 

4 


244,161 

277,575 

1,372,812 

638,829 


16 
12 
2 
4 


214,460 

245,562 

-959,049 

555,500 


11 
10 
3 
4 


183,858 
211,149 
689,051 
478,103 


10 

y 

5 
3 


141.885 
184,139 
340,120 
393.751 


Ohio 


3 


1,519.467 


4 


937,903 


5 


581,434 


13 


230,760 


18 


45,365 










Pennsylvania 

Rhode Island 

South Carolina.. . 


2 
24 
11 


1.7^4.031^ 
108,830 
594,398 


2 

23 
9 


1,348,233 

97,199 

581,185 


3 
20 

8 


1,049,458 

83,059 

502.741 


3 
17 
6 


810,091 

- 76,931 

415,115 


3 

16- 
6 


602,365 

69,122 

345,591 


2 
J5 

7 


434,373 

68,825 

249,073 




5 


829,210 


7 


681,904 


9 


422,823 


10 


^,7r 


15 


105,602 


17 


35.691 






Vermont 


21 
4 


291,948 
1,239.797 


17 
8 


280,652 


16 


235.966 
1,065,366 


15 
1 


235,981 
974,600 


13 

1 


154,465 
880,200 


12 
1 


85,425 


Virginia 


1,211.40^, 2 


747.6ia 

































Wisconsin 

Wyoming 


29 


30,945 











































The states 




17,019.641 




12,820,868 




9,600,783 




7,215,658 




5,294,390 






















































.... 






























Dist. of Columbia. 


1 


43,712 


1 


39,834 


1 


33.039 


1 


24,023 


1 


14,093 


















































































































TTtah 










.... 


































_ _ 








Wyoming 



























The territories 





43,712 


~ 


39.834 




33,0.39 




24,023 




14,093 










On public ships In 
service of U.S... 




6,100 




5,318 


















United States 




17.069.453 




12,866.02C 




9.638,453 




7.239:881 




5,308,463 




3.929,214 


Per cent of gain... 




Q9 I^H. 


5'? HA 


SiR "W 


^\ in 



























Note— The narrow column under each census "year shows the order of the Btates aad 
territories when arranged according to magnitude of population. 



GROWTH OP AMERICAN, CITIES (1790-H.OO) . 



CiTV. 



Albany. N. Y.... 
Allegheny, Pa.. 

Atlanta, Ga 

Baltimore, Md.. 

Boston, Mass 

Bridgeport. Ct... 

Buffalo, N. Y 

Carabridpe,Ma83 

CMmdeu. N. J 

Charleston, S.C.. 
Chicago. 111.... 
Cincinnati, O.. 
Cleveland. O... 
Columbus, O.... 

Dayton, O 

Denver. Col 

Des Moines, Iowa 
Detroit, Mich.... 
Duluth, Minn.... 

?rie. Pa 

Evanaville, Ind.. 
Fall River, Mass. 
Gr.Rapids. Mich. 
Harrisburg, Pa.. 
Hartfof-d. Conn.. 
Indianapolis, Ind 
Jersey City. N. J. 
Kansas City. Kas 
Kansas City, Mo. 
Lawrence . Mass.. 
Los Angeles, Cal. 
Louisville, Ky.... 

Lowell, Mass 

Lynn. Mass 

Alemphis, Tenn.. 
Milwaukee, Wis. 

Minneapolis 

Nashville, Tenn. 

Newark, N. J 

New Haven, Ct... 
New Orleans, La. 
New York. N.Y.* 
Oakland, Cal.., 
Omaha, Neb..., 
Paterson, N. J. 

Peoria, 111 

Philadelphia, Pa. 

Pittsburg, Pa 

Portland, Me 

Portland, Ore 

Providence, R. I 

Reading, Pa 

Richmond, Va... 
Rochester. N. Y... 
Salt Lake City. U. 
San Antonio.Tex 
San Francisco. 
Savannah, Ga 
Bcranton, Pa. 
Seattle, Wash. 
Springfield, Mass 
St. Joseph. Mo.., 
St. Lou'is, Mo.l.. 
St. Paul, Minn.. 
Syracuse, N. Y.., 

Toledo, O.. , 

Trenton, N.J. 

Troy, N. Y , 

Uti'ca, N. Y , 

Washington.D.C, 
Wilkesbarre. Pa. 
Wilmington, Del 
Worcester. Mass 



94.151' 91,9?3 
129,890 105.287 



89,871 

505.907 

5tK).892 

70,996 

352,387 

91.880 

75,935 

.%,80^ 

1,R9S,57; 

325.90:^ 

381.768 

125.560 

85.333 

I3;i,«5<t 

G-M39 

285,704 

62,9t;9 

62.7a3 

59,007 

I04.e6;i 

87,565 

50,167 

79,850 

169,164 

206,43;^ 

51,418 

16:^,752 

62.559 

102,479 

201,731 

94,969 

68.513 

10i,320 

235.3f5 

202,718 

80,865 



246.070 181.830 



65,533 

448.4 
48.866 

255,664 

70.0?8 

68.313 

54.955 

1099.850 

2<)6,908 

261. 36;^ 
88.150 
f.1,220 

106,713 
60,093 

205.876 
;33,115 
40,634 
00.756 
74,398 
60,278 
o9,385 
61^.230 

105,436 

16.3,003 
38.316 

132,716 
44.654 
50,395 

161,129 
77,(596 
65.727 
61,495 

201,468 

164.738 
76.168 



90.758 

78,68: 

37,40'J 

3:^2.313 



27.613 
15.5.131 

52,669 

41,659 

49,984 

503.185 



69,422 
53,180 
21,789 



62.367 
25,702 
9,554 



267,354 212,418 
362,83^1 250. .526,177, 840 



18.9,19 
117,714 

39.634 
20,045 
48,9,:)t) 
298,9'-' 



13,299 
81,129 
26,060 
14,358 
40.522 
109, 200 



.33.721 
10,089 



50,763 

21.265 

2 572 

169.'0.-)4]102,31.3 

l3tJ.R5l 9;5,3S3 

7,5*;0 



1900. '1S90. 1880. 1870. 1860. 1850. 1840.1830. 1820. 1810,1800.1790. 



24.209 
2,801 



255,1.391216. 2.391161.014 



103,027 

287,104 

3,437.202 

66.960 
102.555 
105.171 

56.100 



81,298 
242.039 
1.515.301 
.48,682 
140,452 
78.347 
41,024 



l,293,ti97|1.04f>,964 



321,616 
50,145 
90,426 

175,.597 
78,961 
85.050 



162.608 133,896 



53,531 

5;i321 

342.782 

54,244 

102.026 

80,671 

62 059 

102.979 

575.238 

163.065 

108,3'r4 

131,822 

73,307 

60,651 

56.383 

278,718 

61,721 

76.508 

118,421 



238,617 
36,425 
46,385 

132,146 
68,t»l 
81,.388 



44,843 
37,637 

298,997 
43.189 
75,215 
42.83'^ 
44,179 
5J.324 

451,770 

13:1156 
88.143 
81,434 
67,458 
60,936 
44,007 

230.3i)2 
37.718 
61,431 
84,655 



160.146 
51,617 
38.678 
35.629 
22.408 

116..340 
3.483 
27,737 
29.280 
48,961 



;52.016 16.507 



30,762* 
42,015 
75.056 

120.722 

3,200 

55 785 

39,151 

11,183 

123.758 
69,475 
38.274 
33,&92 

115,58? 
46,887 
43.350 

13(i,508 
62.882 

216.0it0 



9J.829 
31,274 
30,473 

4.759 
12 035 
79.577 

3.131 
19,616 



21,830 11.484 



26.766 



23.104 

37,180 
48.244 
82.546 



U06.299 942, 2<<2,813, < «J9 5 15, 547 



34.555 
30,518 
51,031 
29,259 



&47, 170 674, 022 



156..38'.> 
33.810 
17.577 

104,857 
43.278 
63.600 
98,;i66 
20,768 
20.550 

2;«.9.i9 
30,709 
45.850 
3..533 
R3,340 
32.431 

350,518 
41,473 
61.792 
60,137 
29,910 
66,747 
33,914 

177.621 
23,339 
42,478 
58.291 



32.260 

28,921 

5,728 

100,753 
40 928 
28.233 
40,226 
71,440 
13,066 
25,865 

105,059 
50,8.0 

191,418 



43,417 
18.564 
20.081 
4,749 
3,965 
45,619 



9,419 



14.026 
8,058 
13,405 
29,1.52 
18,611 
29,226 



4.418 
17,f;39 

4,385 
68.033 
36,827 
19.083 
22.623 
45,246 

2,584 
16,988 
71.941 
39,267 



42,261 
15,215 
9.479 
42.985 
29,963 
115,435 
17X)34 
17.882 
10,977 



502 
21,019 



5,858 
3,235 
11.524 

2,686 
7.834 
17,966 
8,091 
6,856 



8,282 
1,610 
43,194 
33,:^83 
14.257 
8,841 
20,0ol 



3,294 
13.312 
8,409 
3,371 
29.261 
4.470 
46.338 
6.071 
6,048 
6,067 



9,102 



3,412 



6,738 



80,620 

61,392 

2.800 

8,668 

6,072 



30,289 

24!83i 
1,076 
2,4.35 
2,950] 



12,630 



62,738 

43,298 

1,.500 

2.095 

3,295 



24,780 

'f;;6i2 
606 



10,762 



46,566 



6,349 



26,614 



33,25024,737 
1,089 



2,323 



f;,222 



:l.,465 



6.980 
9.468 
2,692 
3,072 



21.210[ 

20,796 

9,367 



1,712 



10,165, 

38.894 
20,345 



168.675116,375 



10..500 
16,083 
33,579 
22,849 



86,076 
31.413 
8,293 
68.904 
33,930 
61,038 
6J,.386 
12.854 
12,256 

149,473 
28 2:35 
3.5,092 
1,107 
26,703 
19,556 

310,864 
20,030 
43,051 
31,584 
22,874 
46,465 
28.804 

131,700 
10,174 
30,841 
41.105 



1,513 

1,883 
19.586 
14,045 
565,529 
49,21 
26.341 

2,674 
50,666 
23,162 
37.9)0 
48.204 

8,236 

8,2.35 
66,89; 
22,292 

9,223 

263 

15,199 

8,922 
160,773 
10.101 
28,119 
13,768 
17.228 
39.235 
22.529 
75,080 

4,235 
21.258 
21.960 



11.344 

5,095 

121,:376 

46.601 

20.815 

821 

41,613 

15.743 

27,570 

36,403 



3,488 
34.776 
15,312 



11,766 

77".866 

1.112 

22.271 

3,829 

6,461 

28,785 

17,.565 

51.687 

2.723 

13.979 

17.049 



6.929 
17.290 
12,9d0 
102, 193 
312,710 



4.158 



4,312 
7,074 



10,341 
6,471 
6,133 



5,566 
10,953 
10,180 
29,73 



1,000 



1,422 



635 



1,594 



2.990 
4,726 



4,012 



4.515 



24,711 
2.546 



383 



2.463 



18,924 



3,498. 



13,503 
18.038 



2,115 



394 



1,296 



2,28 
3,9rj5 



1,357 



4,087 



7,596 

1,467 

93,665 

21.115 

15,218 



23471 

8,410 

20,153 

20,191 



500 
11,214 



10,985 
16,469 



11,014 
1,222 

4,o;s5 

19,3:34 

12.782 

33,745 

1.718 

8,367 

7,497 



202. 589a23, 706 96, 373160. 515 



80.462 
12 568 
12,598 



16.833 
6,856 

16.060 
9.-207 



7,776 



6.7S4 
iV,i25 



6,507 

7,147 

27,176 



6,772 
17,224 



81 



16,359 



1,472 
5,347 



359 



2,837 



4.019 



200 



2,29f 



63.802 
7,218 
8.581 



53,722 
4,763 
6,921 



11,767 
4,:3,32 

12,067 
2,063 



7,523 



6,929 



3.925 
11.556 

8,323 
30,261 

2,232 

' 4'.i:37 



3,914 

io'.twy 



1,814 



3,942 

5.264 

2.972 

23.336 



2.y62 



10.071 
3.4(i2 
9,7:j6 



33.131 



41,22028,522 
1.565'. 
3,704 



7,614 
2..386 
5,737 



5.215 



2,767 



3,895 

15,"47i 
1,225 

2",577 



5,16o 



2,312 



4,926 
835 

2.4ii 



2,233 



6,380 
3,761 



1,574 



2,095 



♦The . 
the census 

Hi' ISOO 6*>6 .i.^, i-^vru ^ 1,-r.,./, ..^.v,. -,.. ,-, , . -,-- . . . 

tPrlor to census of 1880 St Louis city was an undivided part of St. Louis county and its pppu^ 
lation was not separately reported. Previous to that year the population gi^ven is that of the 
city and county of St. Louis combined. Unofficial flgures give St. Louis proper 1,400 populft* 
tl9n in 1810; 4,5!18 in 1S20 and 6,694 in 1830 



